The Seattle Times' Lynne Varner had an editorial yesterday about the Technology Access Foundation, a private organization that teaches technology skills to K-12 students. Varner's main point is a good one:
My applause for all of this is bittersweet because I'm bothered by public education's inability to do what TAF is doing, or to hire the nonprofit to do it for them.Indeed. But this made me cringe:Public educators promise but don't deliver.
For the uninitiated, SQL is Structured Query Language, a Microsoft version of computer speak -- sort of like Kleenex as one type of tissue.No, SQL is not "a Microsoft version of computer speak", it's an industry standard database query language, invented at IBM. SQL Server is Microsoft's trademarked implementation of relational database software. There's a difference.
It's but a minor detail in this particular story. But it makes me wonder how factually accurate Varner's columns are overall.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 07, 2007 11:43 AM | Email This1. SQL isn't structured (it can't broken down into blocks or prodedures).
2. It isn't limited to queries - there are more than just SELECT statements.
3. It isn't a complete language.
That way they can play along with such scams as global warming without having any nagging doubts about the veracity of any claims....
Posted by: H Moul on June 7, 2007 12:17 PMWithout knowing it, she made the perfect case for charter schools.
Posted by: ronin on June 7, 2007 01:01 PMAgree.
Posted by: WVH on June 7, 2007 01:07 PMThe first 10 years should focus on basic education - a firm foundation for everyone. How to properly write a letter. Basics of spelling and grammar. Multiplication, long division, basic algebra (I have $4.25, how many $0.60 apples can I buy?). Learning essential civics and history to help unify our population (and so you don't get people bringing up the tired canard of a stolen election in 2000 because of the popular vote, which is irrelevant in a Presidential election).
Spend the last few years of high school either as college prep or a foundational tech school with specific foci on different fields. That is when you can start considering such tech skills.
Trying to "jazz up education" with high-tech toys and tech skills to primary students is simply wasteful. It's a way to assuage "adult friends" (as I've heard it's a better, friendlier term than parents) that little Johnny or little Jill are learning something.
I say this as a person working in high tech, and understand that in the 4 years of high school those 8th graders will go through there will be a large shift in applied technologies. Things change at a frantic pace all the time. Teaching SQL or the like to 8th graders is a waste; how many will actually use it?
What allows the greybeards like me to stick around isn't the tech skills learned 20 years ago (where are you, Pascal? Come out and play friends COBOL and FORTRAN, roam on my Token Ring network with VAXes and PDPs). It's the grounding in the BASIC CONCEPTS of SCIENCE AND MATH, and learning HOW to learn that keeps one fresh. Skills are irrelevant for anything more than entry level; KNOWLEDGE, a firm foundation, and knowing HOW to learn are crucial.
Teaching skills - before you have a fundamental grasp of the underlying principles - is just a feel-good move...
Posted by: Edmonds Dan on June 7, 2007 01:48 PMAgree.
Posted by: WVH on June 7, 2007 01:58 PMNicely said!
Posted by: Fed Up on June 7, 2007 02:20 PMWho realistically expects them to teach something new?
Posted by: Middle-aged teacher on June 7, 2007 02:33 PM1. Haven't been to the museum, have you?
2. Isn't the question of intelligent design a
whole other thread. Isn't Darwin a theory
just like global wariming? So, which theory
do you prefer?
Unfortunately that's what happens. The fear of damaging a precious ego is more valuable than a mind (a mind is a terrible thing to waste!).
HOWEVER, I believe the egos that are REALLY being protected are not those of the children, but those of the parents. Can't stomach the hassle of parents essentially being told that their kid is failing, and it's a direct result of the parents. So too many administrators and policies spring forth to make it impossible to keep someone back.
As one of my favorite teachers in HS said (Dr. Elwell, O'Dea High School): I don't care if you learn or not. Someone's got to flip the burgers at McDonalds.
A little shame - for the kid AND parents - will go a long way to encouraging students. And if they don't pick it up, out they go. An education is a privilege, not a right, and if a family decides to squander it, that's their choice. Get the kids out so those who DO want to learn can.
A few generations of ditch-diggers and railroad workers will change the attitude about education and what it brings...
Posted by: Edmonds Dan on June 7, 2007 03:42 PMMy preferred theory is the one involving a senior citizen who built an ark large enough to contain two of each species on the planet, who then gathered them. Also, I enjoy the part about about the guy coming back from the dead like a zombie and then spontaneously disappearing.
Posted by: LOL on June 7, 2007 03:55 PMFor the record, Zombie Jesus would be an awesome Quentin Tarantino flick...
And back on topic, I could regale folks with stories about colleagues and co-workers in the field and their lack of knowledge about basic subjects. But with what has been said above, it's nothing that hasn't already been mentioned.
Posted by: Don Ward on June 7, 2007 04:12 PMAnd Edmonds Dan, the reason why they don't blame the parents is because the parents are the ones who are going to be voting on levies that are sooo necessary to "Save the Children".
If the parents were told that they themselves need to do more to help their kids succeed in school, wouldn't they then need that money instead of handing it to the WEA?
No, the success of your child in school depends on the ineptitude of the "feel good" public education system, and in order for them to do their job you need to pay up and shut up.
Posted by: Smoley on June 7, 2007 04:13 PMAt another store, in North Carolina, my wife needed to show her (Washington) drivers licence to cash a check. The cashier had no idea where to find the asterisk (*) on the keyboard to enter her drivers licence number. My wife said "you have to use the "8" key". So she typed an "8". My wife said "no, you have to use the shift key". The cashier said "So that's how you get those little symbols up there!" She had no idea!
The bottom line is that it is amazing the things that people have never learned.
Bill H
Posted by: Bill H on June 7, 2007 05:31 PMBut to give the Times credit, they probably would print a letter noting the error. (And they deserve a little credit for that. The New York Times simply will not print letters criticizing some of their columnists or some of their editorials -- even when those columnists and editorial writers have committed serious factual errors.)
Posted by: Jim Miller on June 7, 2007 07:49 PMGlad to see that you are reading. I prefer a literate population, don't you? Actually, in the first schools, stories about your favorite theory were the texts. Are you that old?
Posted by: WVH on June 7, 2007 09:28 PMCompetition in education is going to be as difficult to achieve as getting a media to actually research facts. There are too many stakeholders vested in the current system.
Posted by: WVH on June 7, 2007 09:46 PMActually, I thought Michelle Malkin's blog was a little more interesting.
Quoting Michelle:
As annoying as Reid's refrain was, he is right: This was the president's bill. This was the monstrous sham that President Bush tried to ram through the Senate with his pal Teddy Kennedy--subverting the committee process, attempting to cram it in before the Memorial Day holiday, rushing to limit debate, and then complaining about delays. This was the bill President Bush sent conservative-bashing bureaucrats like DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to peddle on CNN. This was the bill President Bush championed while deriding critics as fearful bigots and running away from building the fence he promised to build.
End Quote.
WHERE'S THE FENCE?
Posted by: Boonie on June 7, 2007 11:20 PMi've visited our local zoo and overheard adults asking what an animal was--common ones that any kid in my day would know. and geography? poor. most people do not know their elected officials.
sad. proper English too--few have read (Strunk & White) Elements of Style--the "its-it's proper usage" thing drives me nuts. picky, but another indication of a lazy, slipping culture.
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on June 8, 2007 03:58 AM1. Agree.
2. I believe Eisenhower gave a speech about the
military industrial complex and if one were
to listen to secular progressives they
would claim that that is the driving force
in this country. They would cite that as
the cause for the Iraq war. I think
Halleburton (sp) would in their mind be
the force.
3. I propose that it is not so much military
industrial any more but it is more an elite
media, academia, and political troika that
is blended between the two parties and
governs alternatively. The principles of
this group are to stay in power and use
whatever consituent group they need to
to get power and remain there. Pellosi,
Hermes scarfs aside, is really not for the
little folks and Bush, Texas ranch and boots
aside, is not a conservative. What they both
are is in it for "me." The media helps this
blended group stay in power.
You are right about the grey-beards being retained because they have skills that aren't being taught today. It's what keeps the food on our table!
Posted by: Peggy U on June 8, 2007 09:01 AMThis was especially evident in the whole OS/2-NT-Win95 competition. If NT had a particular feature, it was an excellent piece of technology but you should only use it if you have the computer power and need; if OS/2 had the same technology, well, it was just a waste because nobody had the computer power, so why bother with it anyway?
I think Fred Moody locally did a piece on either the new Windows NT or Win95 and it was a complete hack job. The only "research" he did was. . .talk to Microsoft people. He just quoted them and let whatever howlers they made just sit.
In that general case, I don't think it was a wide conspiracy, as such, to push Microsoft. M$ did provide a lot of these sources with a LOT of ad money, and one columnist once wrote that a managing editor told him specifically to concentrate on M$ because "that's where the money is". I tend to think that had something to do with it, but the main reason was simple laziness, intellectual and otherwise. It's hard work to understand in some detail the industry and competing products and companies, but that's the only way to usefully and knowledgeably compare different products and what various company spokesmen are saying. It's much easier to just learn one set of products -- Microsoft's -- and crank out stories that mostly just parrot M$ press releases. If it happens to coincide with your monetary stream, so much the better.
Posted by: Frank Black on June 8, 2007 09:26 AM1. My wife moved to the West Coast from New Jersey. She went to a party and someone asked where she was from. She told them she was from New Jersey. They said "Oh, what state is that in?"!
2. Back when the Olympics were being held in Atlanta. Someone called from Albuquerque to order tickets. They asked him what state he was from. He told them New Mexico. "Oh, you have to be from the United States to get tickets from this line". He said "No, I'm from NEW Mexico". She said "Old Mexico, New Mexico, it doesn't matter, you still have to be from the United States."
Presumably these people graduated from high school!
Bill H
Posted by: Bill H on June 8, 2007 11:01 AM