Teaching Tech Lite
from the is-this-good-or-bad dept
A very interesting article over at Interactive Week talking about computer science education today. Basically, they're suggesting that computers are killing the "tinkering" that many kids used to do. Fewer and fewer people actually understand computers and how they work. The feeling is that this might be a bad thing (the article doesn't mention it, but I've heard plenty of people who disagree with this - and who feel we pay too much attention to tinkering with computers). As computers get more and more complex, there will be fewer and fewer people who understand even the basics. Thus, some schools are starting to teach some less intensive computer focused courses to try to get students up to a certain basic level. There is some disagreement on how useful these courses are, though.
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Regarding demand, I once had a professional engineer tell me that engineers support technical development in society like a pyramid, with the engineers at the bottom, creating a basis for everything else. Unfortunately, he said, these days, the shift is to have less at the bottom and more people managing them, mostly because a lot of people aren't willing to put in the effort anymore for an engineering or computer science degree. The result is less support for more structure until the pyramid is reversed. I don't have a problem with giving tech classes to more liberal arts people - in fact, I encourage people to learn more, especially when they say, "Oh, it's too confusing and there's so much to know!" My girlfriend, a history major, could definitely use one or two of these classes. It just fumes me when these people who do only have one or two classes think that they know all there is to know about computers and where they are heading. My solution? Read. Then play. Or even the reverse, though the former can be much cheaper. The only way to really understand how something works is to make it work yourself.
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Too true
In terms of teaching girlfriends, I think it's our responsiblity to teach our girlfriends not to fear technology (and the business world). I taught my girlfriend basic IT, Genetics and business (and a little Nano ;) ), whilst she was studying for her degree in English literature.
Let's bring it back to the Garage (or maybe now more accurate, studio apartment).
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not so true...?
And as for girlfriends, you guys make it sound like teaching a bit of IT is better than sex. Geez, guys, there's more to life than hardware and IT.... right? RIGHT?!? :)
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Re: not so true...?
As for the whole girlfriend/teaching about computers thing, another advantage is that it gives you a chance to show off your really geeky side, and if she sticks by you after that... well... you've got a winner. ;)
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The south shall rise again!
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Re: not so true...?
Regarding the teaching thing, I just used my girlfriend as an example. I encourage everyone that computers aren't really that complex. Well, they are, but that's only if you want to know them well, as us geeks do. As previously mentioned, you can be effective without knowing why or how it works, and I try and get people to understand that while still encouraging them to just play around. It can be tough at times, as I'm sure many of you know.
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