Uncle Roger wrote:
>
> At 11:59 PM 5/12/98 +0000, you wrote:
> >Apple and 8bitters of it's ilks that is found in K-12 has it's places
> >because these are what excels at teaching kids materials but in high
> >school level, we need to convert guys over to real things like
> >windows and 486 boxens, unix and like using word processing and
> >speadsheets, such yak yak..of most types not including 100% dumb M$
>
> NONONONONONONONO!!!
>
> Word Processing and Spreadsheets, even 'net access can be taught just fine
> on 8-bit machines, or DOS-based PC's. The younger kids are the ones who
> can profit most from the non-textual interfaces that the newer machines can
> offer.
>
> To over-simplify: Older kids can read; they can learn to type commands.
> Younger kids can't read; they need pictures (icons).
I taught myself to read before I was five. This has handicapped me
ever since GUI systems arrived, since to me the hieroglyphs are _not_
intuitive -- give me words, not pictures. Admittedly I'm some kind of
mutant since literacy isn't a big thing in my family. Give me a Korn
(or Bourne) shell interface over the best Microsoft or Apple have to
offer, I'll get the job done faster (and be able to explain the work)
than anybody with a mouse. (Yes, I _do_ use X on my Linux systems,
mostly so I can have five or six xterms on the screen). The only thing
school did for me was to teach me to run, fleeing the bigger kids who
thought I was smarter than they were and didn't want the "curve"
ruined.
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Wed May 13 1998 - 22:16:27 BST