Hello kirby, ku> Very apropos, thank you.
ku> And yes, making "computers" just be about Word and Excel is a terrible ku> development. We need to make it clear to math teachers that just ku> using calculators is to rip students off. One way to do this is to ku> barrel ahead with math curricula that are, need I say it, invested in ku> Python. I sent the following email out to our Math Task FOrce at Utah Valley State College this week (we do math the old-fashioned way and are taking a lot of heat for begin too hard). The quotes are from a local newspaper article interviewing high-tech businesses: === "And what's really staggering is that people who have some of the two-year degrees cannot do basic math. They rely on a calculator--garbage in, garbage out, and they don't realize it's wrong. And that's a big problem." They were quoting Dave Baglee, co-executive officer of IM Flash Technologies, LLC in Lehi. He also said that when you hire a two-year degree recipient, you're not "hiring a problem solver." The technology programs in the state were seen as a farce by some of the employers. "They're enrolling haircutters, and we have people fixing hair and cutting meat, not fixing engines and building engines and running injection moulding and doing technology types of things, which is where I want my tax dollars to go." That was Fred Lampropoulos. This is where our mishandling of K-12 math statewide and nationwide has gotten us. So we'll be cutting hair and meat while India and China lead in technology. Not a pretty sight. They also mention the home influence: "In this state ... we have an awful lot of moms and dads working and everybody trying to keep up, and the highest bankruptcy rate. Everybody has to have their flat screens and stuff like this... I think a lot of it goes goes right back to the home, and are we going to invest in things or are we going to invest in our children?" The rubber hits the road in business - it has to - and business leaders seem to know what the problems are. Is anyone listening? === But none of our math folks program or know Python! Ideas? I'd be happy to teach them if I could get them interested. Kirby, I think I need an immersion into your stuff somehow. (In my copious spare time, of course, which I have a negative amount of :-). -- Best regards, Chuck _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
