[clug] Linux in education

[Sam Couter]

David Tulloh <david at tulloh.id.au> wrote:
> You have to teach them how to use a particular product.  A computer is a 
> device for getting a task done, they teach the task and they teach a way of 
> doing the task.  There's not much point doing the same task four times four 
> different ways just to learn yet another piece of software

Car analogy, sorry.

That's as retarded as saying driving students shouldn't need to know
some cars have shifters on the steering column and some on the
transmission tunnel, or that some have a foot-operated "hand" brake, or
that some have the handbrake lever on the right of the driver instead of
the left. Or even that some cars have automatic transmission and others
are manual.

Alright, end of car analogy. Let's change the subject. How many techniques
for finding integrals do you think maths students need to learn? How
many wars, plagues and causes should history students learn about? How
many of the most common flaws in the scientific method should science
students learn?

If all you're teaching a student is "This is the magical incantation to
make the black box do <x>", you're not really teaching anything. That's
a class that should be dropped in favour of a class that does actually
teach something.
-- 
Sam Couter         |  mailto:sam at couter.id.au
                   |  jabber:sam at teknohaus.dyndns.org
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