MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-07-21 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir Secretary NYLXS
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] School Technology
|
The only thing I develop is minds.
Perl allows, as most people who took my classes know, a broad background
in general programming skills, and computer science that is not possible
with many other programming platforms. One of those platforms is PHP.
We have already developed a very solid ciriculum with Perl to teach
programming basics. In fact, it is probibly one of the best in the
nation. The same programming skills could simply not be learned in
the more limited environment which PHP is. The ciriculum actually
touches on and discusses much C, PHP, TCL, JAVA and LISP, through the
developement of programming concepts as tought through the Perl program.
I'll repeat, that as a fact, this is simply not possible with the platform
that the schools are looking at, and therefore, what THEY have proposed can not
fill the needs of the students or NYLXS's goals of broad for education.
I think we will have no trouble making the case for a move off the PHP
request, which was largely based on the precieved successes at the Beakman
School. However, IMO, the Beakman School is not a success, or a successful
model. I base this opinion on a real study of the outcomes at the Beakman
School. The Beakman School exihibits all the following failures:
1) Students didn't achive a broader knowledge of general computer science as
can be discovered by examining the records of the school and the course of the
the Beakman graduates.
2) The limited successes which Beakman can claim, is not in any way repeatable
in other schools.
3) The Beakman program failed to extend digital information into the broader
educational scene, largely because of issue 2.
4) The Beeakman program failed to integrate computers into non-computer
areas of education, especially in Math, Music or English.
5) The Beakman program failed to educate teachers about technology, and
hence it pretty much died with the leader of the programs failure to
continue the effort.
6) The Beakman program was far to heavely web based, ignoring nearly all
other aspects of computer uses.
7) The Beakman program failed to extend children into other areas of
programming, largely due to their over exposure of PHP and Web design,
which handicaps the kids in the fast changing technology world.
Without a doubt, our proposals are far more solid, and since NYLXS is an
organization with limited resources, proper allocation of those resources
is ciriticle for the success of the organization.
This last point is constantly overlooked in discussions and plans. No, we
can not afford to become embroiled in a failure which saps our limited
resources. We must position ourselves in such a way as to be most effective
nearly all the time. And we must be able to identify times when a particular
program of idea is just not good for us to pursue.
If the Board of Education fails to be able to put the students learning
skills above their immediate short term concerns, then NYLXS does not
NEED to do EVERYTHING all the time. If they are insisting on a PHP
program after our conversation, then we need to look at our options in
helping them obtain the goals that they want to achive, and determine if
we are indeed the most suited organization for such a project. If the
answer is that all the Board of Education is focused on is getting web
sites up fast, frankly, Perl is better than PHP for that as well, but
in either case, our best efforts would be to act as an intemediary for
the Board, and other groups better prepared to help them meet their goals.
And we should then just continue with our curriculum building, our planned
educational studies, and our teacher education program.
Ruben
Ruben
>
> I think one of the saddest things to happen since I was a kid is the
> demise of using the right tool_s_. The idea that something should be
> this _or_ that is limited thinking, advanced by those who're more
> interested in squeezing their developer's salaries than in generating
> revenue.
>
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