Interesting. My guess is that you must be in your early 20s. When I was at high school (& even uni), apart from normal lessons, researching for assignments, etc, meant going to the library, not downloading the answer from the internet. Internet didn't exists in those days. Maybe in the States it did but not where I was. Teachers would only be there as a guide but would never give us the answer. I guess the quality of teaching and graduates have dropped greatly since I left high school. Cheers ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Cichy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Don" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 0:47 Subject: Re: Lazy > Human nature and education... > > In most cases as youngsters we are 'given' the answers and the methods for > solving our problems. As we get older we continue to expect this and un-able > to function when told to figure something out. > > My first computer class in High school (NCR Mainframe/BASIC), I had a teacher > who at the time I thought was a pain in the @$$, but in looking back, I think > I owe my career to him. Someone would ask a question, 'Can I do ... with > BASIC?', he would barely look up from what he was doing and say 'Yes', and > continue reading or what ever. Students, I included, would stand at his desk > waiting for an explanation, a couple seconds later, he would look up, point > to bookshelves in the corner of the room and say 'Read the books, they'll > tell you how' (translation from High School correct phrase, 'RTFM'). We all > learned a lot that year! > > The following year, we had another teacher, who seemed to feel she was > 'stuck' with teaching this class. In contrast to our previous instructor, a > new student would ask her if you could do ... with BASIC, she would quickly > say 'No'. Armed with our knowledge of manual reading, the second year > students would set out to prove her wrong, and in most cases we did! > > The result of these two years of computer science, Publishers have me on the > Christmas card list ;-) and many of my friends and associates get a real > kick out of telling me something can't be done!! > > I think the big problem most newbies have with RTFM is knowing the > terminology to look for, i.e. 'I want to add a new user', can be difficult to > translate into GRANT and privileges for a new user. > > Have a great day... > John > > On Thursday 11 January 2001 09:12, Don wrote: > > > Carlos Corzo wrote: > > > > Some people have tried the manuals verbatim but are really confused > > > > because they are not at your intellectual level. If this list is for > > > > the "intelligent only", change the title please. Not everyone can > > > > decipher a manual. I may post questions but there are reasons for > > > > them. My time is just as valuable as yours. > > > > It's human nature, > > > > When a novice user is confronted with a new challenge and a manual, two > > things may occur. If the Sysadmin (support staff, lead, etc...) is in line > > of site or known to be in the office/building, the user will give the > > manual a cursory glance and at the first sign of trouble, yell for the > > Sysadmin or pick up the phone and call him/her for assistance. In this > > case, THE LIST takes the place of the sysadmin. It's the old proverb: > > > > "When all else fails, read the manual" > > > > However, if the user is in isolation , the user will be more apt to read > > the manual more carefully as they are not guaranteed of getting voice/List > > support. > > > > Don > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Before posting, please check: > > http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) > > http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) > > > > To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To unsubscribe, e-mail > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble > > unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Before posting, please check: > http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) > http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) > > To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
