On Nov 3, 2009, at 10:04 AM, kirby urner wrote:
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 8:27 PM, Edward Cherlin <echer...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Cards: You are right on the merits for combinatory math, but you will
run into strong cultural aversions.
Yes, anticipated. However, the Python subculture has done the
necessary work to publish a Diversity Statement, which has an
antibiotic effect against puritanical bigots (assuming you mean some
people have moral hangups about gambling?).
I was rather assuming that the hangups would be about the more cringe-
worthy aspects of tarot cards. The fact that people of faith may not
get a good feeling about using a tool whose logo is a snake,
introductory examples are using tarot cards, and whose theme music
might be construed to be the rather irreverent creations of the Monty
Python players, says less about the presence of puritanical bigotry
and more about a complete lack of sophistication in marketing.
I love a good example (and a good joke) as much as the next guy, but
let's not lean on a diversity statement as an excuse to not attend to
some basic tenets of marketing. If we had examples that incorporated
the various "Stations of the Cross" it would likewise go over like a
lead balloon.
Introducing Python as a unifying tool in early education (by some
definition of early) calls for a particular discretion in the choice
of examples.
Best,
Travis
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