[Edu-sig] Low Enrollments - programming as anti-intellectualism

[Kirby Urner]

> www.allianceforchildhood.net/computers
> 
> Please spend a few minutes there.
> 

I'll be spending more than a few.

> You're the guy spending the bucks for us, so you have the burden.
> 

I'm not pushing any one size fits all approach.  

If groups want to develop computer-free video-free modes of education, like
we had in the good old days, and field test them voluntarily, that's fine. 

This call for a "moratorium on further introduction of computers in early
childhood" (quoting from above web site) is something a given school or
community might well call for and achieve.  Some people don't want to eat
meat.  The permutations are endless.  Fine by me.  Waldorf has a lot of nice
features.  So does Montessori.

I'm all for the power to opt out.  But I want the power to opt out of
whatever they're going to do when they opt out.  I might want to opt in.

I develop curriculum for a more screen intensive lifestyle.  Computers and
digicams are a given.  Yes, lack of physical exercise is sometimes a problem
and needs to be addressed.  Using screens a lot doesn't preclude that.

> But please go beyond the "why would God lead us to the vPod its if its
> just going to be  another way to watch re-runs"  argument  - which I 
> always sense is somehow at the bottom of your point of view.

You do what you think is healthy and wise, and see how much you're willing
to trust your kids and grandkids when they form their own judgments on these
matters.  That's your business and it's not my plan to interfere.  I have
better things to do than try to be everyone's parent.  I'm just some guy.

Don't paint me as trying to force my curriculum down your throat.  I don't
have any investment in making you do as I do.  I'm a recruiter, yes, but
that doesn't mean I think others have no rights to the same field.  I'm here
to compete.  I relish competition.  I don't *want* to be the only game in
town (I'd *hate* that).

> I'd love to, except that I don't think PyGeo is very interesting if that
> is how it is to be used.  It is meant to be used to create constructions,
> deliberately (no mice allowed), and then to interact with what it is one
> has oneself constructed.

Again, if you're offering PyGeo as an open source tool, I hope you're not
going to be too control freaky about how other people use it.  Maybe some
studio wants to generate a bunch of MPEGs around famous theorems in
projective geometry -- nothing directly to do with programming or Python.
If I were you, I'd be proud to see my tool used in this way.

The future is nothing if not surprising, always.

Kirby