[geeks] New Tech Schools: Digital Harbor in Baltimore

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 @ 13:30 -0700, Nadine said:

> On 4/12/07, Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at verizon.net> wrote:
> > The funny thing in my case is that despite my long-term interest with
> > technology, I never got a college degree in it (well, I'm working on one now
> > ;^) - my associates and bachelors degrees are in Humanities.
> 
> Ditto, but English.  I put down my success in tech to being able to
> research, solve problems, and communicate well 

That's good.

Of course, isn't that supposed to be the base requirements of all
applied science degrees?

> (I know how to document all the steps I've tried so as to give people
> from whom I'm asking assistance the complete picture of the problem).  

This is important.  Even if you don't write it down, at least make
sure you discuss what you are doing with someone else now and then.

I've found that just talking about what I've done is useful because the
other person will often see things that my proximity to the work has
blinded me to.

> But I also know my limitations as to my success in certain areas of
> tech have a lot to do with why I went into Liberal Arts in the first
> place.

You also need limits to keep yourself focused.

It's easy to lose yourself in study if you try too many things at one
time.

> In the modern politically correct world, people seem to have forgotten
> that life is not a fair competition.  

Somewhere a lawyer is yelling, "Noooooooooooooooooo!"

> While I think some level of support needs to be provided for kids
> (and their parents) with profound needs, we are doing society in
> general a disservice by ignoring the special needs of the top 10%.
> The assumption is that the "smart" kids will "be ok" regardless of
> how they are treated by school, when the statistics clearly show that
> a good portion of those kids are at risk because they don't get the
> right teaching methodologies to challenge them and keep them engaged.

The other thing is that classes for "smart" kids usually end up being
just more of the same thing.

AP and honors classes when I was in school were dull and boring.

However, they were a requirement before you could attend external
science and engineering schools, which was stupid.


-- 
shannon / There is a limit to how stupid people really are, just as there's
-------'  a limit to the amount of hydrogen in the Universe.  There's a lot, 
but there's a limit.  -- Dave C. Barber on a.f.c.