Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote: > > Is anyone interested in a similar initiative in Kolkata ? In an earlier mail i did talk about IT > enabling schools. But somehow the issue got buried.
I don't intend to hurt anyone when I say this, but I strongly feel we've got our whole perspective on computer education in schools all wrong! When we teach computers in school, all we seem to be teaching them from day one is "drag-drop-pull-wordprocessing_package-accounting_package-BASIC-C...". The children come away with the idea that these are all compartmentalised operations, distinct from each other, happening mysteriously and miraculously. This is not how we teach them the three Rs, which are considered essential basic education. There we take pains to give children fundamental ideas and build upon them step by step. So, why should we not do that with computers? Replacing MS with Linux while preserving the same cabalistic ritual is *not* going to make children computer literate any more than learning how to operate a calculator is going to teach them arithmetic. If we consider that computer literacy is as essential as the three Rs, we must change our approach to teaching computers to school children. - Manas Laha -- To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the body "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line. FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/help/faq_list.html
