----- Original Message -----
From: Alexander Else <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> We're talking about high school / hsc, right?
>
> 1995 was my graduation year and one of the subjects i did for the HSC was
> 3U Computing Studies. This was the first year that 3U was an option.
> There was a small amount of programming in the 2 unit course, and the
extra
> unit was entirely programming.
>
Yes it is High school
It all depends on your definition of programming. Sure the 2unit HSC
Computing has a section on algorithms but there is no coding required or
expected. Likewise with the 3unit course there is still no formal coding as
part of the course. Students who take the 3 unit course have to do a major
project as you probably recall but by and large the students have to do the
coding in a language of their choice. Rarely do teachers have the expertise
to teach a variety of languages for coding.
Sure there are teachers who do have expertise in various languages and if
possible they use these skills within a variety of computing studies courses
at all year levels as some of the sluggers have indicated.
But, by and large the programming ability of teachers in schools is
spasmodic and there are many schools out there where the expertise does not
exist and programming per se never gets taught. Schools as institutions are
lumbering institutions that suffer a deal of inertia. If for example HTML
was formally specified in a syllabus to be taught in a particular course it
would be in the cycle of things present in the syllabus for at least 5 years
even if by that time HTML had become obsolete. The result is coding is not
specified, therefore usually not taught except by interested teachers and
then only inconsistently across the state.
Thats all I'm going to add on this.
Will post queries later on how can I utilise Linux within school integrating
with windows and novell. Have lots to learn but I don't think I know the
right questions yet
Trevor
> Whether this is an available option to students all over the place I don't
> know. This would depend if there are teachers there capable of teaching
> the subject, which is commonly the limitation in availability of subjects
> in high school.
>
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