[Edu-sig] Re: Edu-sig Digest, Vol 19, Issue 22

[Arthur]

> 
> Darren Payne
> 
> > of coercing from me. I read Kirby's work with interest
> > - however my experience is teenagers just aren't
> > interested in math. Rather it is a chore that must be
> > endured, a minimum standard society requires us to
> > attain.
> 
> Yes, there's a lot of truth in that.  And yet we insist they climb a slope
> vis-à-vis mathematics, i.e. we step them up a ladder, and send the message
> this is mandatory for many technical careers.
> 
> So, *given* that, my question is:  OK, so would you rather climb this
> ladder
> with or without Python (and/or other computer languages)?
> 
> One approach:  the math teachers are handling math, so we doing computer
> stuff are just free to play games and ignore math, because that's what
> kids
> like.
> 
> Another approach (mine):  let's compete with the math teachers, and show
> how
> to cover a lot of the same concepts and materials, but in a way that's
> more
> relevant and engaging -- AND we'll have time for games as well.

I would state a similar position, but with a little more emphasis on the
importance of mathematics in a general education regardless of one's career
direction.  Or at least the mathematics that Felix Klein and friends have in
mind.  Against which the importance of exposure to VB or Gamemaker pales.
And as public education is definitely an environment of limited resources -
and it is more than clear which of these endeavors consumes more of those
resources - hard for me to resist questioning the allocation, and with more
alarm, the direction things seem to be taking.

What I *don't* particularly question - which leaves me in never-never land
somewhere - is Darren's conclusions as to the practicality of teaching
Python in the context of a "soft" introduction to "computers" at a high
school level.

I just consider that no reflection on Python and its ultimate utility as an
educational tool - when we get on with things a bit more.

Whenever that might be.

Art