<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/10/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Arthur</b> <<a href="mailto:ajsiegel@optonline.net">ajsiegel@optonline.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br><br>> >-----Original Message-----<br>> >From: <a href="mailto:edu-sig-bounces@python.org">edu-sig-bounces@python.org</a><br>> >[mailto:<a href="mailto:edu-sig-bounces@python.org">edu-sig-bounces@python.org
</a>] On Behalf Of kirby urner<br>> ><br>> >OK, Teds Ocean comes up, I beckon my wife, and she comes<br>> >over to watch. "What about the car?" That's what Tara's<br>> >been up to, programming a car (one of the eToys exercises).
<br>> >We check another canned example: Stair.<br><br>Girl. Car. ??<br><br>Probably more fuel efficient, or something, than the kind of car a *boy*<br>might be interested in ;)</blockquote><div><br>
<br>
As the only girl in shop class and electronics class etc, I would
have *loved* to have a chance to build and program cars back then. My
daughter does it now in school (Lego Mindstorms) and has a blast. Some
of us, sometimes, just like to tinker. It's nice to see other girls out
there with the same interests...<br>
</div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">> ><br>> >Quite fun then, not just an applet as plugin, but I guess<br>
> >the whole Squeak development environment, which is the 6.5<br>> >meg I downloaded.<br><br>I think you owe it to yourself, and perhaps to us, to understand and<br>express why Squeak does not represent the perfect environment for pursuing
<br>the kind of educational ideas that you tend to express. If it in fact does<br>not.<br><br>My own concerns start exactly there - with the word "environment".<br><br>My understanding is that many conclude that too much "environment" is what
<br>doomed Smalltalk to a minor role in today's software world.<br><br>And respect for children starts, I think, with not considering them any<br>different from oneself on these kinds of issues. I am actually very<br>disappointed that - according to what you are saying - Canonical sees Squeak
<br>as having a central role to play in education for children.<br><br>Python is glue, a citizen of the larger software world, and proficiency in<br>it helps make one a better, more productive and potentially creative citizen
<br>of the world. Squeak is too much its own world. If Canonical mission is to<br>educate better world citizens, I think it is going off in the wrong<br>direction here.</blockquote><div><br>
<br>
Great point, Art.<br>
<br>
Anna<br>
</div></div><br>