[AccessD] OT: the "Education" system

Tina,

Just look at the number of questions on this list about how computers
handle numbers shows you the dismal state of our educational system.
How did some of these people get a job programming computers if their
basic understanding of how computers work is so lacking?

Now I am not knocking those on this list that started out as an office
worker that took the initiative to start developing some software tools
for the office to use and do not claim to be professional software
developers.  My comment is aimed at those that are supposed to be
professional software developers, but aren't!

Charles Wortz
Software Development Division
Texas Education Agency
1701 N. Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701-1494
512-463-9493
CWortz at tea.state.tx.us



-----Original Message-----
From: Tina Norris Fields [mailto:tinanfields at torchlake.com] 
Sent: Thursday 2003 Jun 12 07:14
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: the "Education" system

Mark,

We have been ignoring the problem much too long.  We already are 
graduating generations of functionally illiterate adults.  Think of how 
many people cannot write a coherent English sentence.  In a time when we

are ever more dependent upon computers, which must be told exactly what 
to do, in terms they can understand, where the absence of a semicolon or

a period will blow code right out of the water - is this the time to 
give up on teaching language skills and critical thinking?  If we no 
longer can say what we mean, or even be certain of what we do mean, how 
can we properly program and control these stupid machines?

I once taught an "electronic spreadsheet" course for my local college, 
and discovered in the first day of class that 5 of my 16 students could 
not figure out percentage and that 2 had gone all the way through high 
school without learning any Algebra.  They all expected the program to 
do the analytical thinking for them and were apalled that they would 
have to figure out what their formulas should be. After I got over the 
shock, I redesigned the course to include the needed skills and 
experience.  And, yes, I built all my quizzes and exams as real problems

and projects - absolutely no "multiple guess" questions.  I hate those. 
 Almost always, a good case can be made for more than one answer, but 
only the officially RIGHT answer gets any credit at all.

Okay, I'll quit ranting.

Tina