From an article referenced (critically) in todays planet.python.org """ Do the universities provide for society the intellectual leadership it needs or only the training it asks for?
Traditional academic rhetoric is perfectly willing to give to these questions the reassuring answers, but I don't believe them. By way of illustration of my doubts, in a recent article on "Who Rules Canada?", David H. Flaherty bluntly states "Moreover, the business elite dismisses traditional academics and intellectuals as largely irrelevant and powerless." So, if I look into my foggy crystal ball at the future of computing science education, I overwhelmingly see the depressing picture of "Business as usual". The universities will continue to lack the courage to teach hard science, they will continue to misguide the students, and each next stage of infantilization of the curriculum will be hailed as educational progress. I now have had my foggy crystal ball for quite a long time. Its predictions are invariably gloomy and usually correct, but I am quite used to that and they won't keep me from giving you a few suggestions, even if it is merely an exercise in futility whose only effect is to make you feel guilty. """ Austin, 2 December 1988 prof. dr. Edsger W. Dijkstra Department of Computer Sciences The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712-1188 USA Then from: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/sep05/09-12CSGames.mspx *""" Support Includes Lobbying, Sponsorships and Enhanced Development Tools * Microsoft’s and MSR’s efforts to promote new instructional methods and rebuild enrollment in computer science programs go far beyond the RFP awards. In addition to funding, proponents of game-related instruction say they need help changing perceptions about computer games, particularly among veteran computer science faculty who never played computer games when they were growing up. Microsoft and MSR have sought to take a leadership role in these efforts by promoting potential applications for serious games and lobbying government, academia and business about the benefits of game-related instruction in computer science, Nordlinger says. """ As usual in these discussions, the Microsoft stance relies - at it s essence - on maintaining ambiguity about whether we are talking about playing games, or the demanding (I can't do it, for example) notion of writing them. And is in this respect is -at its essence - dishonest. They are indeed playing games. And mostly winning. Python??? The Scheme community seem to me to take something of a stance on these issues. Perhaps that stance is a __built-in__ to the language structure. Python is perhaps more flexible, perhaps multi-paradigm extends to these kinds of issues as well. The best I seem to be able to hope for as a member of the Python community is that it not become identified with a particular paradigm. To me we are due for a different kind of PyCon keynote speaker on the subject of technology and education, in the interest of balance. Perhaps a leading Schemer. Art _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
