Re: LOGO-L> Re: Logo &. Right Wing Idiots?

[George Mills <mills@softronix.com>]

I don't wish to debate what the right skills are and I agree
it does vary from teacher to teacher and student to student.
My only point is that I don't believe that folks that are
proposing cutting long division and are trying to make more idiots.
Nor are they being directed to do so by the government to make
more idiots.

There is always the debate of how much "foundation" is enough
before moving on to higher level concepts.

For example some folks believe you should learn assembler
language before learning high level languages such as logo.
Can you learn cool stuff without assembler, yup.
Can you build more efficient programs from understanding
the underlying architecture of computer by learning assembler
first, yup.

Is this any different than long division and calculator?
I don't think it is. There are good arguments to both
approaches. How often do you do long division as adult?

It's trade-off. I would rather see my daughter skip a years
worth of long division in 3rd grade, "advance" a year
and get an extra year of algebra or geometry at high school.

Like you said, today's educators are picking the right skills
that will be valuable (as in allow that person to compete in
a capitalist world) in the future.

If the government wants to stay in power, they know the
current generation of students have to compete as well.

Now if the government starts wanting to shorten the school
day or year, then you might have something to gripe about.

-- 
===============================================================
George Mills
email: mills@softronix.com
http://www.softronix.com
The www page contains some very powerful educational software.
Our single most important investment is our kids.

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