>"In 1961, Alan Perlis made the argument that computer science should >be considered part of a liberal education, and that everyone should >learn to program."
Ah, the future as predicted in the 60's. What I want to know is, where is my flying car? > M. Mitchell Waldrop in his book The Dream Machine >(Viking: 2001) says that he made the argument that programming was a >fundamental intellectual skill, like mathematics. He argued that >computers �will participate in almost every intellectual transaction >that goes on in the university.� > >They also participate in every commercial transaction in every supermarket. Should >check-out staff learn to program? Hang on a second. Electricity is much more pervasive than computers. Everybody needs to learn about Maxwells equations first and before they use any electricity from a nuclear power station they need to learn quantum mechanics. I just don't understand how our ancestors were able to move to an agrarian way of life without any knowledge of plant photosynthesis and the process of nuclear fusion that caused our sun to generate photons. >Yes, everyone should learn calculus, and vector algebra, computer science - its all >great. But the concern is with the achievement of basic skills like what multiplying >integers means. The proposal that programming might support the development of the >concept of number is very helpful, and we should discuss that. The approach to education needs to change to include ignorance management. In the past so little knowledge was available that it was reasonable to expect people to have a general grasp of most of it. These days so much is known that most people cannot be expected to have any such general grasp. So we need to be able to figure out both what students need to know and what students don't need to know. derek -- Derek M Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667 Knowledge Software Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
