hia,
sorry for not participating in the discussions - been out of town for
the weekend
/*here i go*/
On Mon, 2002-06-10 at 21:15, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote:
> hi,
> Manas has certainly raised a pertinent point. But that was not what was intended in
>the first place.
> Even though S DasGupta can be a bit more helpful in this part, let me be specific on
>what i mean by
> "students in schools" - these are for fellows past 8th std.
in the wbse, computer education, afaik, officially starts at 9
in class 9, there is an computer science additional subject
in 11, u get 2 flavours,
1. Computer Sc.
2. Computer Applications
the last one is taken by mostly students opting for the humanities
stream, as they don't have much maths related stuffs in that.
> i suppose the Delhi chapter of the LUG
> is also on the same wavelength. What Manas has said is sadly so true. Computers [and
>let's us forget
> the literacy issue for some moments !] is taught to students as a set of application
>suites that
> help solve life crises [at least some of them]. The "drag-drop-routine" is somewhat
>like the
> showmanship or patter that a magician does before the actual trick is performed. And
>it is again
> true that replacing the MS suites with flavors of Tux is not the answer to the
>problem. What i was
> however suggesting that for a student of say std 10, already burdened with an
>antiquated syllabi
> [WBBSE] and not having a half decent CompSci class scheduled - what should be taught
>? Certainly
> providing a very deep insight into the world of OS and kernels might be a bit
>disorienting, at least
> for some it will be. Linux/Unix offers an alternative in the way that shell scripts,
>Perl [apologies
> for bundling this one in !], sed & Awk all combine to offer an insight into the
>logic that is so
> much hidden from the user in the MS systems. Basic networking can be explained at a
>much deeper and
> simpler level compared to MS networks and/or networked systems.
agreed- here's some info on the syllabi
afaik, the 9 students with basic concepts of boolean algebra, and go for
gates and stuffs. (i don't know what else they do, for i had additional
mechanics)
in 11, they continue with the same booloean algebra, basic sets, logical
problems that are to be translated to gate diagrams, etc.
moreover, they also start to get familiar with flipflops, adders, mux,
etc.
on the other hand, parallaly, practical classes begin with basic info on
directory structures (sadly, no one understands that...they don't
venture, beyond My Documents and My Computer :( )
then comes MS Word and MS Excel (tho that's not on the syllabus)
after that, they are supposed to have a one class briefing on dos
commands, and yes....*nix commands (we did not have that..our teacher is
still busy playing with mdk 8.1;)
after that comes C (oh! and they still use a dos app for C-ing...the old
TC;)
In class 12, they start off with C (continuation), database (basic SQL)
and networking
so, u see, even if ppl don't go for a syllabus change, they can use *nix
platform to work
in fact, i am doing my entire school practicals on Linux (expect that MS
Office part), tho, i don't know wether i'll be allowed to use anything
other MS SQL (the db teacher is not as liberal as the other one:( )
> What i feel that needs to be admitted is that the GUI aspect of MS that is the USP
>manages to draw
> devotees solely because somehow it has come to be associated with ease of use
>features [media blitz
> !!]. *nix offers same and then some more [much more actually] and to sell it we need
>to patter and
> cater to the lowest common denominator. Only then can the integrated whole picture
>of an OS and
> application suites be propagated.
> It is a long haul. But i had requested the Delhi LUG to send if possible their
>approach methodology
> so that we can toss up a few ideas pertaining to the Kolkata situation. Somehow
>there has been a
> lack of response. So till we see some methodology that can work, we should try and
>think the
> situation through. Going up to schools and asking them to implement an OS course
>based on *nix is
> foolhardy. But selling the GPL/FSF idea to get a toehold and then offering the
>bouquet is i suppose
> a better option. *nix offers a better way of building up the fundamentals and
>progressing thereon.
> Why not then leave the
>"drag-drop-pull-wordprocessing_package-accounting_package-BASIC-C...". aside
> to implement something useful for a change.
>
> thoughts of others on this issue solicited
> regards and have a nice day
> sankarshan
>
> ps : manas thanks again for being a sounding board. hope to hear from you soon.take
>care and keep
> well.
>
>
However, i believe, that the most difficult part will be to make the
teachers migrate2linux
most teachers i have seen don't go beyond VB, and they don't even have
basic dos/winblows knowledge.
for example, one day, a fellow could not start up tc, and he asked for
help
the teacher confidently announced "Eta-te DOS installed nei"
Me: "Heya..how's that possible, that box is running on win98.."
Teacher: "See, I'm clicking, it's not starting"
I decided to investigate, and ..Yeeek...the Desktop shortcut was
pointing towards the wrong place!!!!
They are not willing to learn, and as I have sed in my "When not to
Linux" , if a person is not willing to learn, then bettor linux
As my friend, Sayan Chakraborti (also in this list) once pointed out,
"Tara bujhte parche nah, ei bhebhe khub ekta dukhkhito hoy nah.." ;)
-cheers-
-sdg-
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