----- Original Message ----- From: Kirby Urner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > The problem though, in my view, is that it is on fourms like > > edu-sig ( and debian edu list) that the exploration of these kinds > > of "polemics" are both most relevant and least welcome. > > > > Which says something in-and-of-itself. > > > > Let's just put it this way: I'm a technologist immersed in IT and > I don't > consider myself a formidable obstacle to progress. Nor do I feel > that my > innovative programming is encountering any effective resistance. > Nor do I > feel that I'm operating alone or in a vacuum. > > On top of this, I see a million ways to link up design science > (Fuller'sname for a disciplined approach to making headway) with > open source > projects. Of these million ways, I've so far exploited only about > 4.5% of > them (bogus stat). In other words, I'm loaded with "ammo" > (weapons of mass > instruction) but have only lightly tapped what's in inventory. I am also a technologist of a fashion. But in the business world there are factors that converge toward appropriate use. There is cost and there is benefit, and there is a measuring scale - dollars. I find the business world quite wholesome in that respect. What I see at work in the realm of education and technology is the worst of both worlds - folks working within self-interested frameworks of various kinds and degrees (as in the business world), but without a reasonable framework for defintions of goals, or measurement of costs and benefits, and therefore no ecosystem that it is reasonable to believe will converge us toward a reasonable result. The easiest shortcut, of course, being to simply define "educated" - because there is in fact a lot of leeway to be had in coming to a definition of that word - as fluent in working with computers. In which case - by simple tautology - working with computers becomes a centerpiece of the educational process. Too easy, IMO. Way. Art _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
