And how do you learn, exactly?



That’s a very loaded and assumptive statement, one that’s completely false. No one stays above school rules, and if you have, that’s a unique instance that was subject to the specific context. (wow, that sounds so technical, but there you go.



No…
The point is not to let the computer do your work for you. Kids need to learn the hard way first. And they do computer work, stuff that I never did as a kid,

Besides, programming is a very specific subject area that not everyone would need to do to be an effective member of society, which is what, after all, school ultimately tries for. This is your own personal talent maybe. That’s cool. But if we’re to include that in the Primary curriculum, why not all the other specific subject areas? It would not be feasible. Think about it before you mention it.



I assure you, all of that is a part of the Primary curriculum.



Care to extrapolate?


Essay writing: These days, while I have been teaching, essay writing is explicitly taught, even though no one has said :this is an essay. In stage 3 (year 5 and 6) kids are taken through the structure, given scaffolds, etc etc. and taken through various stages of writing until they can do it without a scaffold to organise their ideas.

I think the thought process in programming is so valuable, I use it everyday in my job, especially working with Excel. Its one of the few things that I have really taken from uni to use in my job.

Regardless, teaching it exactly in schools is a bit much, they want to put everything in the world into the school curriculum these days, much like engineers should now have philosophy, accounting, business, management and language skills as well as their technical packed into their degree.

My computer studies class was introduced to basic programming, and in my accelerated maths stream(it was like, a maths test, but you had a few months to do it) we were encouraged to use spread sheets to improve the speed of our calculations, sadly, my lack of experience with excel and none of the maths teachers at my school having a good grasp on it meant I did about 20 pages of a series that would have taken me far less than 5 mins on excel now.

I wish I had learnt some sweet kung-fu in school, so that if my family is ever killed by ninjas I won't have to get my mate to shoot me in a training montage before I go out and avenge my family's deaths. I also wish I had learnt the Vulcan ritual of Kolinahr - emotions can be so pesky at times. And I wish I'd learnt to fly. Unfortunately, people who write curriculums seem to be devoid of any imagination whatsoever.

To be slightly more serious for a second, I think they should teach kids philosophy. It's good for the brain.

TAR... this is true why do they not teach Kung-Fu and other awesome stuff at school. School is but only an institution where some person in authority decides what is good for kids to learn. Where was my self-defense class!? Where was my "this is how you don't fail at life" class!? ... oh wait... I am awesome, looks like I didn't need school afterall...

[quote="The Acolyte Rizla"]I wish I had learnt some sweet kung-fu in school, so that if my family is ever killed by ninjas I won't have to get my mate to shoot me in a training montage before I go out and avenge my family's deaths. [quote] The only way to defeat a ninja is with another ninja (from a rival clan). Otherwise use about a dozen bushi. Or find a ronin who calls himself sanjuro. Maybe a band of pirates.....

Nonsense. A noble warrior who is pure of heart and spirit, and knows some really sweet kung-fu, can defeat a ninja if, and only if, he is avenging his family's deaths.
Both the Terminator and the Predator could beat a ninja. Hell, the Predator is prettymuch a space ninja. With a plasma gun.
Jedi Knights can beat ninjas, but only actual Jedi Knights, not just sad gits who fill out 'Jedi' on the census.
And of course, Captain James Tiberius Kirk would kick a ninja's arse. Unfortunately, he would lose a vast number of ensigns to the ninja's deadly skills before he could bring it down.

Fix'd.