Great links Devon. Thanks for sharing. Very good points, Raul. Especially, the one about teaching J as a part of teaching other topics. One Charlie Munger explains, similarly, the importance of network of mental models ( http://www.focusinvestor.com/FocusSeriesPart3.pdf).
On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 8:17 AM, Devon McCormick <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
