Ah, brings back memories. The concepts you're referring to are "neural plasticity" and "critical periods." The studies I'm familiar with focus on learning (human) languages. Supposedly, past a certain age you can learn a language, but you'll never pick up all the little nuances that the natives have. For the record, I believe anyone can learn to program at a professional level. The question is, are they willing to put in the time to acquire all the chunks needed to be an expert? Unfortunately, we can't force our students to put in the time. Just my opinion, - Nick
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of ok Sent: Mon 7/2/2007 10:01 PM To: discuss@ppig.org Subject: Re: PPIG discuss: Programmer education argument-starter of the week On 3 Jul 2007, at 3:20 am, Lindsay Marshall wrote: > >> So I would be, frankly, astonished if it could be shown that >> *everyone* is equally trainable in programming to a >> professional standard, any more than it could be shown that >> everyone could learn to be a professional golfer or a >> professional artist or a professional mathematician or a >> professional teacher. > > Actually I think that most people could be trained to these levels or > pretty close to them with sufficient effort. ... The neurologist made the point that some things take a LOT of practice and if you start too late you will NEVER be much good at it. You cannot expect a professional baseballer to also play tennis to professional level (although he would of course beat a rabbit like me every time). CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE "This e-mail, including all attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited unless specifically provided for under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of this message. Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Anderson School at UNM." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List (discuss@ppig.org) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
