O and A levels [was Re: [SC.LUG] Robotics]

[Richard Smedley]

Jason Lucas wrote:

>BTW - A letter in this month's Computer Shopper suggested that computer
>education in the UK at GCSE/A-level was 'abysmal'. Can anyone comment on
>that?
>  
>

Unfortunately secondary IT ("ICT") education is hardly
worthy of comment :-(

Things have changed little since I wrote:
http://www.linux-magazine.com/issue/05/Linux_For_Schools.pdf
more than 3 years ago. People leave school with no idea of what a
computer really is or can do - or even how to cope with anything
that doesn't have the same WIMP interface upon which they
learnt.

I think there is little hope in the short term for most schools, but
in the end things have to change. If anyone would like to speed
things along, please join AFFS' effort on this front:

http://www.affs.org.uk/education/index.html

Sorry to sound so depressed, but I covered some of this in an article
for a government journal last week, and it left me feeling very down.
If anyone would like to post sterling examples of how well IT is
being taught at their local school, then please do (particularly if it
involves Linux robots ;-)

 - Richard

/me retreats back to wind-blown allotment for solace




btw can you bring the Computer Shopper t the meeting?


--