Fwd: Re: [NCLUG] Looking at programming languages...

[Michael Riversong]

Yes, being given that opportunity is priceless, and i consider you a blessed person in many ways.  Always wished i could find students like you.  It's like so many things -- those who are truly adept can came out at an early age, but most people really aren't interested.

However, i dislike the idea of forcing computers on young people.  All sorts of bad things can happen.  I've even seen a few situations where someone took all sorts of computer training, and never really got it.  That seemed to be a huge waste of time.  As in all things, we need balance.  I constantly ask students about what things are most interesting to them, and strive to provide whatever resources they need to learn something, even if it's way out of my experience.  That seems to work best.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Sean Reifschneider <jafo at tummy.com>
>Sent: Jan 17, 2008 2:11 AM
>To: Northern Colorado Linux Users Group <nclug at nclug.org>
>Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: [NCLUG] Looking at programming languages...
>
>On Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 09:47:05PM -0700, Michael Riversong wrote:
>>the problem here, and why such an unrealistic concept as expecting 10
>>year old children to become good programmers can occur in the first place.
>
>You know, that's about when I got my first exposure to programming
>computers.  It was either when I was 10 or 11, back in '80 or '81, and was
>a single hour long class with BASIC on the Apple II.  Before then I had
>some exposure to them in games, but no opportunity to program.  Within
>about a year I got a VIC-20 at home and programmed the heck out of it.
>
>I remember that first programming class and wishing I could get more
>exposure to the computers at that time.  But at the time I really didn't
>have much option.  Computers were quite scarce then.
>
>So, yeah, some people at 10 will be able to be exposed to computers and
>know that's what they want to do.  And I think that giving them the
>opportunity to explore that is a great thing.
>
>Sean
>-- 
> "I was just thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, when he said
> ``I drank what?''"  -- Chris Knight, _Real_Genius_
>Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo at tummy.com>
>tummy.com, ltd. - Linux Consulting since 1995: Ask me about High Availability
>
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Michael Riversong

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Beautiful Music for the Glory of God

http://home.earthlink.net/~mriversong