Antennae vs. antennas

[Pierre A Plauzoles]

In a previous article, dyanega at mono.icb.ufmg.br (Doug Yanega) says:

>	 Gee, it took me a long time to chime in here...
>It appears to me that perhaps the problem, and the approach of the two
>opposing camps, can be (over)simplified thus:
>        There are highly self-motivated laypeople who already know the
>proper terminology, names, etc. or will learn it regardless of what we do;
>there are laypeople interested and motivated enough to learn it *if* we
>offer it; and there are laypeople who *might* be interested but will avoid
>entomology altogether if it is not offered at their level.
>        Presumably, if we "dumb down" (there's a nice loaded term), we
>won't lose the folks in the first group, we will bring people from the last
>group into the fold, but we will do a major disservice to those in the
>middle group.
>        Presumably, if we *don't* dumb things down, we serve the first two
>groups, and lose the third.

A good teacher will know how to teach all three and yet not allienate 
that "third" group.  I think that Phil's attitude (that dumbing down is 
inherently bad) is right.  I see it as divisive as well as insulting and 
detrimental to the teaching process.  Its origins in the "liberal camp 
are something I had not thought of but I can see where someone could 
think of it that way.
-- 
Pierre Plauzoles   ae779 at lafn.org
Canoga Park, California