On Tuesday 11 July 2006 19:20, kirby urner wrote: > But the reality is: teachers are afraid of Python, of hackers, of > geekdom, of technology.
No, that's fantasy. They don't even know it exists - that's the more fundamental reality, and furthermore, they don't care - in the UK computer studies was replaced at GCSE level (ie up to 16 years) with Information Technology 15 years ago, eliminating any programming aspect in that age group. Logo barely survives as an irrelevant (to many) cast off of the time. For example, the book "Writing Programs" [1] which is aimed at Key Stage 2 (7-11) year olds. However, it doesn't actually contain *any* programs. (I picked it up out of curiosity to compare with the Usborne books that I learnt about programming from originally when I was in that age range...) At A-Level (roughly equivalent to US highschool), computer studies does survive and for some contains some programming, but generally focusses on what's available in a database, spreadsheet and sometimes visual basic. And the teachers? They're not afraid - they don't even know it exists. If you think otherwise, then I'm sorry, you're in fantasy land. (To be honest, I wish they were afraid, fear is a lot simpler to solve, however complete lack of awareness or care? That's *a lot* harder.) Anyway, my intent isn't to offend, but merely to correct what I see as a major misconception (that people are afraid) being portrayed as reality (they don't even know python exists). Personally I'd love to be able to do something about this (people even knowing python exists and is usable by even children)... Michael. _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
