[Edu-sig] Python Pedagogy

[kirby urner]

On 7/21/06, Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.net> wrote:

> Yes, if the motivation is lacking....
>
> Anybody writing anything worth reading needs to assume an interested reader.
>

Well no.  It's a luxury to assume that actually.  Many people have day
jobs writing for presumably uninterested readers.  I'm thinking of
advertising in particular.

> I don't really believe much in Programming for the Uninterested, or
> Geometry for the Uninterested- which has always  been one of my problems
> with Computer Programming for Everyone.  I'd rather find effective ways

I do.  I believe in the old American art of selling or pitching a
topic, letting someone's obvious passion for the stuff rub off on
skeptical/clueless newbies.  Yes, there's the danger of snake oil
getting into the mix.  On the other hand, in the case of Python,
that's not entirely inappropriate (we can make fun of unprincipled
huckstering, as in Yes Men).

I think maybe where you and I part company is you see academe as a
huckster free zone, whereas I see an academic as a type of huckster.
"Running a racket" is built in to my model's base class, for any type
of professional -- meaning "racket" needn't have any excessively
derogatory connotations, any more than being a Toon in Toontown.

It's possible to run a racket without being to smarmy about it (sorry
Gregor, for all the idioms).

> to teach the interested, than turn somersaults to interest the
> uninterested. And CP4E could be interpreted as the commitment to these
> somersaults.  Presumably those not interested in geometry or programming

That's right.  Cirque du Soleil, move over (don't go away though).

> are interested in something else - maybe even something more interesting
> than either.  Those not interested in anything are the domain of social
> workers and psychiatrists, not educators.

Ah, but you haven't solved the problem then.  Psychiatry may be
overkill.  We don't need to write scripts for phamaceuticals most
times, just apply some good old fashioned spin.

> I personally find projective geometry (it is there even during power
> outages ;) ) more interesting than programming , and actually more
> essential to an understanding of what makes "modern" thinking modern..
> I think Bucky might even agree.  But I have also found that having the
> ability to program as part of my arsenal has been essential in allowing
> me to explore the geometry.  It is second best to the kind of
> imagination that might allow one to *see* without having to see.
> Lacking that level of imagination, I need to see in a more literal
> sense, to see. Nobody had really created a tool to allow me to see what
> I needed to see.  So I did.

You're a poster boy for what it's all about, including in your
willingness to freely share your result, versus making it a closed
source proprietary tool available only for money.

Making it "for money only" helps keep the value of money high, but
doesn't do much for education world at this point, where money is out
of reach, especially if you're unlucky enough to be paid in a "soft"
currency.

I applaud your generosity and hope other projective geometry buffs
come to realize and admit their good fortune, in having you joining
their camp.

> See?
>
> Art

I sure do.  Your story is very clear and I don't see any reason it
should change.

In saying that CP4E is indeed about reaching out to some of the
militantly apathetic (what has Python Nation to do with *me*?!), I'm
not thereby saying *you* need to switch gears and see your job as
writing for the uncaring.

You write for readers who care.  I think that's the most a lot of
writers ever attempt, and I don't begrudge them their fun, nor their
readerships.

Kirby