[Edu-sig] re: A small essay in my own defense

[Arthur]

>I didn't know what you meant about the Scheme people >showing restra=
int nor
what you meant by "hating to 'go >back to Russia'".

Yeah.

I guess I do talk in riddles, sometimes.

But I *am* saying something rather harsh, and it is difficult to say =
- in so
many words.

=46rom the edu-sig page -

>TeachScheme!
>A similar project using Scheme instead of Python; they >have 5 years=
 of
experience doing similar things.

Really don't want to beat this horse, though.

But  I am, who I am, so I shall.

And suggest that under your definition/concept of CP4E, which is abou=
t as
good a concept/definition as I might imagine, the statement that it i=
s a
"similar project" to TeachScheme, is a mischaracter=B7i=B7zation of T=
eachScheme.

CP4E is a slogan and some concepts. What actual resources does it inc=
lude?
I get to that.

TeachScheme is a comprehensive set of organized resources developed
methodically over a number of years - representing a developed approa=
ch to
the introduction of programming, and a comprehensive set of organized
resources for doing so.  How effective it is or isn't - not being the=
 point.
I don't know.  Not having gone through the program.

And it is free and Open Source, and the advocacy of the use of Python=
 as an
introductory programming language is in direct competition with it.

Saying that CP4E is a "similar project" cannot be supported. Sloppine=
ss of
this sort is bad, when it is self-serving.

If we put together the best available resources for using Python in
education - and there are many good resources - it may be possible to=
 say
there are resources out there that can rival TeachScheme.  But those
resources are individual efforts.  And most could not be classified t=
o exist
under the CP4E banner, because they are outside of the CP4E concept o=
f being
accessible to "everybody"  - and certainly their creators may not hav=
e not
signed off on having their effort as considered within the CP4E "fram=
ework".

Is everything of an educational nature written in or about Python par=
t of
CP4E?  Who said?

How does one get off that bus?

If it is that which grew out of the original CP4E proposal than it is=
 IDLE,
perhaps, and only IDLE.  Do you want to defend the notion that IDLE i=
s
"similar" to TeachScheme?

I don't. I'll rather go back to Russia.  (I guess that's from my chil=
dhood.
My family and many of the families around us had Eastern European roo=
ts.  In
the heat of political battle you might tell someone to your Left  - a=
nd
therefore less of a patriot then oneself - to go back to Russia. But =
you
were probably saying it to some Aunt that you loved (and would hate t=
o see
go back to Russia), or some Nephew, who had nver been there.  Not to =
be
taken too seriously, in other words.

Art