absolutely HATE the fact that I can follow the instructions and still not
have it behave the way it's supposed to. I have better things to spend my
time on than trying to figure out why Word seems to hate Times New Roman on
my daughter's laptop, why my music program won't import Midi files properly,
or why the new version of Graphic Converter seems to be munging files that
I'm trying to work on.
I want the computer to be like my car. I get in. I turn the key, and it
works. I'm not interested in going under the hood and tinkering around with
stuff. A former math teacher here said that if you compared today's
"user-friendly" computers to cars, we'd still be in the Model-T era, where
you still had to schlep around a toolbox with you to fix things that would
always go wrong on the road.
For the kinds of things I'm interested in, I don't need the fastest best
computer in the world. Once again, using the car metaphor, I'm a Ford Focus
kind of guy, I don't need the Porsche, as many other guys seem to.
Anyway, my point here is that to me the computer is a TOOL, a tool that
should by now become transparent to the user. Much like your basic ballpoint
pen is transparent. To the extent that we teach using the computer for its
own sake and not as tool for something else that you wanted to do anyway,
this may turn a lot of people off - in particular anyone who just wants the
blessed thing to WORK.
Now, having said that, while there seems to be a big fuss over there not
being enough girls taking "techie" courses, do we see similar concern about
not enough guys taking "artsy" courses? I'm thinking of dance in particular.
Over the years that I've watched dance concerts at out school, I've only
seen one or two boys in each grade involved with the dance program. Guys who
are actually really good at it tend to shy away from taking the classes even
after I explain to them with a wink and a nudge what Dr Denis Leary would
call the "advantages" of taking dance classes with girls.
Why are we more concerned with girls not taking techie course than with boys
not taking artsy courses?
--
keg
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Keith E Gatling - Computer Instructor
Manlius Pebble Hill School
5300 Jamesville Rd
DeWitt, NY 13214
315.446.2452
Website: http://www.gatling.us/keith
Blog: http://wordfromg.blogspot.com
Some teachers teach subjects. Others teach students.
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