Fwd: [plt-scheme] Re: More pedagogic stuff

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Einstein <deinst at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: [plt-scheme] Re: More pedagogic stuff
To: Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk at cs.brown.edu>
Cc: PLT List <plt-scheme at list.cs.brown.edu>


I'm not sure that the MAA is the right place either.  The people you need to
get to are the students, and to a lesser extent, their parents and/or
teachers, and you are not going to get to them via other academics.  Today
it is technically feasible as it never was before.  The problem that remains
is social/political,  I'm not sure how to solve it, but I do not think that
academia is where it will get solved.

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk at cs.brown.edu>wrote:

> Your navy footnote is amusing...
>

I cannot say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Navy schools, however, I learned
more per unit time there than I did anywhere else in my life.

>
> You're right, the MAA is worth talking to.  The ACM may be
> beyond hope.  But we have to keep up at the ACM also,
> because ultimately outsiders (principals, parents, etc.)
> will look to the ACM when they need to make a decision.
>
> The problem w/ the demise of the courses is that it leaves
> schools free to label (as they have been doing already, even
> before the exam died) their computing literacy course (Excel,
> etc.) as "computer science".


This is more depressing than I thought.


> This in turn is going to have a
> serious effect on how students perceive the subject and
> whether they even try it in college.  On the one hand, it's
> good: they'll come to college, see real CS, and say "Wow,
> this is totally different, and it's worth doing".  But the loss is
> those who never try it out at all in college.
>
> Shriram
>
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