RON MCDERMOTT spoke of Mentor to DAN TRIPLETT on 12-30-96
RM>DT>Great...now you tell me.....I've been arguing quanatative research
RM>DT>with a physics teacher.....
RM>Not to mention the scientific method... Sorry, I thought you 
RM>had been around here long enough to know what it is that I 
RM>teach.....      ;-)
I may have but I sometimes don't pay attention to all the details...but 
I'm not intimidated at all....well...maybe just a little...
RM>DT>You don't happen to play chess do you????   
RM>Not with anything approaching regularity, but have you ever
RM>known a physics teacher who didn't?  I have about 6 books on
RM>my shelf from the days when I played at the game...    ;-)
I have about 30 books....some are old and I have them as 
collectors..others are on various parts of the game...endgame 
studies..openings...and middle game/tactics...I have actually read 
several from cover to cover.. (real laborious)
I have a chess club at school and have about 30 kids in the club.  About 
20 are regular attenders...our club is going on it's 3rd or 4th year 
(see...a detail I forget).  The school actually pays me like any other 
after school sport!  
I used to play the yearly tournaments when I lived in Minnesota.  One 
year (1981--my best) I won 2nd place in the Minnesota Amateur.  After 
losing my job with AT&T I went back to school (at 34) to become a 
teacher.  One of my goals when becoming a teacher was to have an after 
school chess club.  So, even though I don't play in tournaments anymore 
I still get a lot of chess.  I play about 10 e-mail games through the 
internet and several through a local bbs (In ChessMagic door).  I think 
chess is really good for kids.  I have heard (though not seen) that some 
studies have revealed academic improvements in kids who have learned to 
play chess.  Kids have to use thinking skills and apply logic in the 
game.  And it's fun!  (If you like that sort of thing)
Take Care,
Dan                                           
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