Yes - I failed to put the wide uncertainty band around that answer that it deserves. Besides individual differences, there are differences in teachers for a given subject - see this: http://secretgeek.net/camel_kay .
On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 12:32 AM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 11:45 PM, Devon McCormick <[email protected]> > wrote: > > 10. Maybe 6th grade or so? > > I don't really like this answer (though it might be valid). But I > think maybe the question is wrong, also. > > In fact, I think that J should not be taught in isolation. The > important thing is the subject matter being taught, and J is useful > only as a part of teaching other topics. (Which means writing material > aimed at satisfying teacher's needs - and putting up with teachers who > reject it for arbitrary reasons. And also, building on successes.) > > Probably the most important things to teach at a grade school level > are things like study skills and the scientific method ("trust but > verify (where possible)"). There's a lot of crud that gets presented > in schools and to be successful the student has to learn how to find > the good stuff (which might be good material or might be contexts > where the material can be beneficial, or whatever else...). > > Or, put differently: no subject is interesting by itself. It's the > teacher that makes the class, or the student. Standards and even > things like J are just tools that can be useful in drawing > connections. > > It's very tempting to say "just give them J and things will be > better", but that's about as true of J as it is of a pencil or a piece > of paper. It's what gets done with it that matters. > > But it's so easy to ask the wrong questions and takes time and effort > to create useful and interesting presentations of ideas. > > -- > Raul > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick, CFA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
