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Ask Slashdot: What Tech Skills Do HS Students Need To Know Now?
heybiff writes: During summer months I deliver brief tech workshops to high school students as part of an enrichment program. Almost all of the students are average students pulled from non-magnet comprehensive high schools throughout our city. Make no mistake — these are not the students who have a love of technology and coding; many were coerced by excited parents or guidance counselors. After doing this for almost 10 years, I have found students have become considerably more comfortable with technology, and confident in their use, especially with smartphones and tablets being ubiquitous. Unfortunately, I also see a lot of basic knowledge and tech skills all but nonexistent. Moreover, students seem unaware that the tech they use daily even has any usefulness for academic activities. So what I put to you fellow Slashdotters is: What do students today realistically have to know to be successful in school? Which tech skills are still important and necessary, and which are gone the way of the typewriter? What misconceptions or outright lies have become so ingrained in young people's use of technology that they need to be addressed? Finally, the program puts laptops in students' hands, to give them a kickstart in being successful; what skills do they need to get the most out of the new hardware they were just given?
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They need to be able to do that kind of writing where the letters are all jumbled together and are indecipherable.
Kids today know how to use today's electronic toys. There's nothing for them to learn that won't be obsolete and/or just plain wrong by the time they finish their education. And giving them laptops will NOT boost their learning rate - cut-n-paste from wikipedia or google is not "getting an education."
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Please teach all kids how to type at least 70-80 wpm. It is a skill they will use forever.
Sharpening a #2 pencil, using hand-cranked unit, motorized unit, or handheld plastic-and-razor-blade unit.
Have a Day!
While students may "know technology" these days, I'm getting a lot of students at university that don't understand where their files go. I have students who don't know about simple keyboard shortcuts like cut, copy, and paste. I've had to give mini lessons on how to do basic formatting in Microsoft Word, and how to do simple manipulations of a spreadsheet. Learning how to code is useful, but I feel that should come after learning some very simple basics.
They can figure out the rest.
They need to be aware of what a spreadsheet is and how to use it. An alarming number of schools do not include basics like this anywhere in the core curriculum.
Really, the main mental skills you need in tech are pretty simple: understanding the goal/problem, breaking a problem down into steps, then putting everything together at the end.
If someone can figure out how to take a meal, make a recipe that makes the meal, then follow the recipe to make a meal, they'll be mostly fine.
A long time ago, in the days of wordperfect and wordstar, there were keyboard overlays -- plastic sheets that fit over/around the keyboard function keys, providing labeling for functionality -- maybe F7 was bold, maybe SHIFT-F7 was underline. Thankfully, after so many years, I've finally forgotten them.
Then that kind of functionality got collapsed into drop-down menus.
Then the same functionality got compressed into "ribbons".
Now, it's hidden three layers deeper.
Today's applications present a very clean interface by hiding away all of the advanced functionality that's used less than 1% of the time. The thing is, 1% can mean dozens of times a day -- if you know that it's there.
For example, want to forward an e-mail, there's a button/action for forward. But there's also "forward as attachment", somewhere.
Tech newcomers to take a new application/program/feature and explore it long enough to figure what features actually exist. Of course they'll find the BOLD button, but they may never know about the balanced columns feature.
Teach kids how to effectively use search engines and tools, for starters. The wealth of knowledge (and garbage) on the Internet requires good search skills to use it effectively. I see far too many adults, much less teenagers, who don't know how to put together searches consisting of more than a word or two. Learn the power of putting exact phrases in quotation marks, and suddenly you'll be able to narrow things down to just one or two very relevant pages when you Google for an error message. Use the * as a placeholder in a search for wildcard terms. Find social tags by putting @ in front of a name. Use minus-signs in front of words to exclude from search results, to help make them more effective. (If you're looking for information about purple rain but not a musical reference, try searching for it with -Prince.)
The most important skill I use in my everyday is critical thinking. No matter the technical details of the task at hand, using my noggin is the best asset I have.
Don't believe anything I say. I crash test crack pipes for a living.
I know it's becoming cliche, but they should have a basic understanding of how top down (procedural) programming looks. Think your CS1 class in college: variables, standard data types, loops, condition statements, procedure / function creation and use. Also include basic programming tactics like breaking up logic into smaller chunks as to be more digestible at a later date.
None of these will ever become obsolete as long as we live in base 2.
Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu,...
If they cannot properly and effectively communicate their thoughts, ideas, and/or directions they are pretty much worthless to the business community. It does not matter if they go into high-tech, low-tech, IT, business, finance, marketing, or janitorial services. They need to be able to communicate.
FredInIT
My 15 year old me is kicking me for saying this, but learning how to integrate into society, listening to other people's thoughts, and learning how to agree and disagree without going all Fox News screamy-shouty goes a long way. Learning to know how to build consensus or at least know when to build consensus (and when to go your own way).
Competition: learning how to win and how to lose without making a complete douche of yourself in either instance. You won't win every battle in the workplace, in your academic endeavors, in your love life; learn how to deal with it, learn how to learn from it, etc.
Learn how to set goals and how to take steps to achieve those goals.
These aren't tech specific, but I'd wager if a student can master any of these, they can do well in whatever field they wish to enter.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
They need to know how operate a cash register, fry machine, lawn mower, espresso machine and be able to take care of other people's children.
If being a slave means success, by all means teach them that "The Cloud" (tm) fixes all their problems and worries about having a job security and something meaningful to do..
Captcha: succor
In fact, let's pass a law that requires anyone that ever puts sound or video on a restaurant's web page, to walk around with a giant, bright blue dunce hat on the head. And make it legal to randomly blow boat horns right next to their ear.
I have never ever, not once, wanted to see a video of a restaurant. Nor do I want any music or sounds when I try to get their location, hours, phone number, and maybe check out their menu. Maybe once I looked at a picture to see if it was a dive or not, but that's it.
That is ALL we ever want to know about a restaurant.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Keyboard shortcuts (most are ubiquitous, ctrl stuff, winkey stuff), file systems, common file formats, how to change some basic OS settings, how networking works.
I am constantly observing that the following things are missing from many techies: The ability to read, write, and speak English fluently, social skills (some knowledge of how to behave around upper, middle, and lower class folks would probably be useful), an above average IQ (anything above 100 would make your job a lot easier in the USA, but if you belong to certain races or a union, it doesn't matter because it's almost impossible to fire you even if you a complete fuckup), the ability to actually remember what you were taught in class, and the ability to solve problems without someone holding your hand. A strong work ethic would be nice, too.
That would be a useful skill that might get them a tech job.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
If they are good at Math and quantitative reasoning, they will be able to pick up tech skills much easier than someone who does not have these skills.
Also, the desire to learn tech skills. That can't necessarily be taught.
How to get a student loan
that opens lot's of doors.
Kids need to know the difference between verifiable reference material and crap. Just because more people agree with one view on a forum or comments section doesn't neceesarliy make it a fact. Foxnews.com is a perfect example of this. So is MSNBC.com Just because it's on wikipedia doesn't mean it's true. Learn critical thinking and be able to know what questions to ask and where to go to find out. Kids know how to use the hardware - they need to engage the wetwear.
Use of spreadsheets is an adult-level skill they will use all their lives and a non-frustrating gateway into building solutions to numerical tasks. Their concreteness makes them accessible, the rectangular-grid layout makes them clear about what is happening, and the ability to keep improving them until you get them to do what you want makes them non-frustrating. Students who have had painful and futile math-in-school experiences (usually algebra) are especially gratified to have a tool that lets them handle sets of numbers correctly.
In addition to the low threshold, there is a high ceiling. The graphing capabilities, the extensive set of built-in formulas, and the potential to have some cells control the values of other cells means that spreadsheets can make use of as much inventiveness as most people can muster. And if someone thinks of a data-based project that a spreadsheet is not a good fit for, then they can branch out into databases and programming with a good foundation in precise thinking.
Seriously. With every teenager having a cellphone, complete with picture cameras and basically a pocket computer, teach them to keep their security tight. What happens with their data. What happens when they take pictures of themselves. And that the internet never forgets. How to keep their data secure. How to avoid being taken advantage of. And what problems they will run into when something is being abused. And how to react to it.
It is about the thing that will have, invariably, no matter what profession they decide for, the one skill they WILL need in terms of technology.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'd rather my kids be illiterate than allow that monopolist or his 'charity' or anything to do with Micro$haft near them.
Ever tried putting a post-it note through your laser printer? Ever had your phone battery go bad and needed to make a note of something?
Despite the story from earlier today, not teaching students how to use pens and paper is unfair to the kids.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Algebra and ability to solve word problems.
Take something apart, wait 2 weeks, then put it back together so it works.
Or...just hand them a random box of PC parts and an OS install disk, and say "Make me a PC out of this"
Further....some coding investigation. "Find the line of code in here where it talks to homebase and sends some of your info to them."
What is the goal of this program? "Tech skills" covers a whole lot of ground, from office-drone skills to systems administration skills to web layout to SEO-type skills to basic Internet use to actual Computer Science.
Knowing what your goals are for your students certainly influences the answers your going to get. Do you just want them to have basic Internet fluency? Do you want to prep them for typical (non technical) office jobs? Becoming digital publishers? Setting up networks? Creating their own robots? Writing programs?
Answering this question is really your first step. Figure out which goals you feel are important to your students based on their own personal goals, and work from there. The rest should fall our pretty naturally.
Yaz
Teach how to read for insight and understanding.
Teach how to write a comprehensive and readable essay.
Teach how to handle numerical quantities and relationships.
Hmmm: reading, writing, and arithmetic. If you're good in these, you're likely to be successful in school.
None of these require any technology. None can be taught in a "brief tech workshop"
Classroom teachers work hard to teach these subjects. Each seems easy but is difficult to master; each can lead to a lifetime study.
Need to know? None. All critical skills remain the same - communication, writing, math.
Should know? Basic familiarity, tools, and typing so that they can use the tools available via technology when its appropriate to use, and the knowing when to and when not to use it.
Technology does not magically solve problems. If you don't know how to write, using Word or OO/LO Writer isn't going to help you and it won't necessarily make you a better writer either. It's not different than a calculator making you a better mathematician versus just helping you along - you have to know how to do the math either way and when to use which formula, something a calculator can't teach you. All these things are beyond the purview and ability of technology.
So honestly, you could remove computers, the Internet, etc from the classroom and probably be more effective in teaching the requisite skills to move through life. What technology will be used in life will change over time and teaching it in the classroom won't change that or better prepare students for what technology they will actually use in the work force and life - exception being the specific vocational training for vary specific vocations and the requisite technology associated therein, even then an automotive mechanic should be able to diagnose a vehicle without a computer, etc.
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
Seems these days they need to become legal experts before becoming IT experts.
Though it can be a hard thing to teach. I have seen "critical thinking" classes that are actually just agenda-pushing classes. Sometimes I even agreed with the agenda (why science is actually better than woo), but the class wasn't actually teaching critical thinking.
Good debate classes, where you have to argue effectively for either side of an issue, do a better job of teaching that than agenda-pushing classes. And also (though plenty on slashdot will flame me for this) philosophy classes do an excellent job of teaching critical thinking (in my opinion, that is actually the primary value of the discipline).
Lastly, I will add: having tech skills is not as profitable as having the ability to leverage the tech skills of others.
VBA with excel, macros, using software APIs. In virtually every job making anything, buying or selling anything, this skill will be useful if not outright vital, and will make them more efficient and make other things easier to do and learn about.
Aside from that, how to properly use search engines. Everything else they either already know, or will learn in the course of studying in the right fields. Teach them how to beat up problems using quick and dirty methods, to find the info they need, and those skills will scale pretty well for them.
In Chinese.
Seriously, while (almost all) children already know the basics of how to use tech, repeating basics never hurt anyone: some kids may learn things they never know, and for those that already know them... repetition is the mother of knowledge. So, always start from the basics ("how to wipe their asses"), and only then move to what ever you may choose to teach - actually, depending on time/level, you may end up teaching them just the basics, but this is not bad. Remember their needs, not your vision (note: i may underestimate the level of students you describe - but in any case: start from the basics)
Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
Obama Speech
Obama gave a speech on this topic, interestingly he does not care about the outcome
Your student is going to go to college, maybe, and get out and want a career and get bent over and assaulted by the real world that they are unprepared for.
Human resources is going to try to sell them at half the going rate, and if they don't know better then they will lose out for the rest of their life because of it.
The team isn't. How do you deal with the warfare they wage against their "team members"?
The boss is often clinically a psychopath - that is why the top 0.5% gets 99% of all "real" power in the US.
The team isn't, they are there only for the money.
Many departments have lines and purposes, and if you are against them they will crush you - in a career-ending way.
It is war. It isn't a modern-high-school-security war, it is game-theoretic "bloodless" war.
If I wanted to radically equip high school students then I would teach them applied decision theory (game theory meets office-space meets what-is-success-in-life)
It isn't computer, electric, drafting - but it makes folks who get into it to be able to survive it.
If you want to help them to have a good life, something like that would go farther than an AP Calculus course or 4 at improving outcomes.
Until pushing mechanical buttons to transfer symbols from a human to a machine becomes obsolete.
Not going to happen in my lifetime I think. What will replace it? Dictation? That's a skill you have to train and most people can't do it without a lot of difficulty. Plus nobody wants to dictate everything they are doing out loud. Brain interface? Wake me when we're talking about technologies that aren't science fiction. That falls into the possible but unlikely and certainly a long way off category.
There may be some kids that will use typing skills until they die (i.e. not forever), but more importantly I doubt that the qwerty keyboard will still be around in 100 years.
I can almost guarantee that we'll still be using querty keyboards in 100 years. I'd actually be shocked if we weren't.
Surely by then we will be able to just think about what we want to type and have it appear on the (whatever replaces screens).
Screens aren't going away either. Certainly not in my lifetime.
Its hard to get a summer office job if you dont know the major parts of Office, or an equivalent.
I've seen too many college grads that are dumber than a doorknob when it comes to figuring out how something works. A semester of basic physics/classical mechanics will help.
Probably the most important tech skill students need to know to be successful in school, is knowing when to put down the tech and pay attention in class.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Three skills that will be invaluable to any HS student later in life:
(1) Good writing, i.e. being able to write well enough to communicate ideas effectively and convincingly (requires a lot of recreational reading, by the way, which doesn't seem particularly popular among the younger generation nowadays).
(2) Being able to stand up in front of an audience and give a good presentation.
(3) Knowing how to touch type.
Invaluable at age 18, and equally invaluable at age 68, no matter what direction your career leads you in.
I'm 15. At my high school, adolescents are just beginning to realize that they have the ability to genuinely think for their own in the creative arts. This skill is important in life. In conjunction with free thought, concentration, deep memory, and logical reasoning can be gained from chess. Make a chess club at a school, then a few nerds will come and play, more non-nerds will come to socialize, and soon you'll be inculcating the cognitive milestones taught in chess to an entire generation. It's not about what skills high-school students need. It's about what thought processes they need.
HS is not an education but a primer to education. No one looks at a high school student and says "oh he's educated" and no one ever has. The point was to give people enough so they weren't fucking clueless.
So you teach them to read, some geography, enough math that they can understand the basics and can grasp the beginnings of the next levels up. You teach them some literature and so they understand what some of that culture stuff is all about... etc etc.
What tech skills do HS students need? Enough to generally understand what they're looking at and how things work so they can continue to learn if they so choose.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Don't focus on language, or one operating system, or any of that. Give them problems and encourage/help them figure out the answer as much on their own as possible. When they enter the workforce, they will be asked to deal with problems that they have never seen before (hence, why there isn't already a solution.) Being able to adapt is the most important skill in tech, or any field for that matter.
The correct answer is 42.
Every "tech skill" most people talk about has a very short half-life. Look at how many languages, mobile platforms and frameworks appear every year. Some get picked up, some don't, and some live on in some obscure corner of the world.
Don't focus on "skills" -- focus on "fundamentals." I've had a reasonably good career for almost 20 years now, and falling back on strong fundamentals has always saved me when faced with a new challenge. Anyone can learn how to write code in Python or Ruby -- it takes a solid grounding to transfer that knowledge into different areas.
What fundamentals would I want to teach newbies now?
- Logic and reasoning -- It's fundamental to software, and aids in the troubleshooting process
- Methodical troubleshooting -- I do systems work and I have encountered so many people who troubleshoot using the shotgun method, changing 50 things at once hoping one of them will work.
- Information management -- again, from the systems world, I see lots of people who google error messages, etc. (myself included) and get 20+ ways to solve the same problem. This is one place where instant information access can backfire. Learn to recognize what is relevant and what is not.
- Systems integration -- a catch-all term, but basically "how to gather all the components together and make them work." I have had the opportunity to work on very interesting projects simply because I was willing to get my hands dirty in areas outside of my comfort zone and learn enough about them to be useful.
- Social skills -- I'm not, and will never be, an extroverted salesperson type. However, there's a broad spectrum and you don't want to be on the "asocial nerd" side of it. Fair or not, people who don't at least try to work with others are increasingly marginalized in their careers. Management would much rather offshore some obscure technical skill than deal with someone they find unpleasant. If every interaction with you becomes an argument about who's right, that's a pretty good sign...and I see this time and time again with lots of people I work with (both technical and non-technical.)
On the technical side, I'd love to see a demystification of platforms-in-a-box. The tablet/phone world is a perfect example of abstracting a system so far that you can't see anything it's doing under the hood. There's no more filesystem, data access is handled for you, etc. If you grow up using systems like this, it's hard to come back down into the weeds and see the "magic" that makes all this stuff work end-to-end.
Fundamental stuff like this has been a very good skill set to build on. The rest is all learned as needed, forgotten about, and dusted off later on. For example, I've learned and re-learned Citrix 3 times when I've needed to for a project. I re-learn enough Linux for a project when the need arises (I do Windows stuff for work mostly.) And, I'm currently upgrading years of Windows scripting and automation knowledge by learning PowerShell.
That should be obvious. The most important skills are the following:
1. Speak a foreign language
2. Train your foreign counterpart in all your job duties
3. Good communication and interpersonal team building
That's about it, really, except how to apply for an EBT card but there's lots of people that can help with that one.
1) Proper typing. They should be hitting 70 wpm minimum by the time they graduate high school, without looking at the keyboard.
2) Basic repair skills. How to remove a virus. How to install an antivirus. How to remove items from Windows start-up. Linux would be great here... but whether or not that is feasible is a different conversation. Basically if the computer doesn't work, they can't use it.
3) Possibly the most useful piece of information is how to search for information. I know using a search engine is 2nd nature to many of us, but for some people it is a foreign concept. An interesting exercise could be coming up with a completely random question (e.g. "On average, how many inches are the front legs of a fully grown male giraffe?"), and then tasking the students with finding the answer. They can be rated on 1) Correctness of the answer given, 2) Reliability of the source, and 3) Time it took to find the information.
They need critical reasoning skills and an understanding of how the world they live in actually works.
I could see QERTY disappearing within two decades. Machines reading (a small simple portion of ) mind already a reality.
I don't. The brain "reading" machines we have are incredibly crude right now. Had you said 40 or more years I *might* agree that it's possible if unlikely and certainly not likely to eliminate qwerty keyboards. But I really don't see it happening any sooner than that. You also have to consider the creepiness factor. There are a LOT of people that are going to be seriously weirded out by the notion of having their brain "read" even if it is completely innocuous. Furthermore it's not clear at this time that humans can easily translate brain signals into text competently. Our brains aren't entirely under our control and I can easily see someone typing a sentence and halfway throu... "holy shit that chick is hot". And hilarity will ensure.
They need to be able to work, real hard, without asking a ton of questions.
www.itjerk.com
They need to learn math and physics so they learn why things are simplified.
For instance why in studying the thermodynamics of a cow, WHY we start with a spherical cow.
They need to learn how to distinguish between what scientists are saying and what idiotic science journalists are saying and they can't be mislead so easily by the bullshit being spewed.
Learning what is today's standard is fine even if 5 years from now it won't be. It plants basic principles that will assist students in learning the newer things. JS language and structure allows you to quickly jump into C, C++, C# because the base is the same.
HTML in the 90's is still valid today. The basic concept remains with added enhancements in the form of CSS, JS, Flash...
The most important thing in school is to learn how to learn. They do this by forcing students to be creative and resourceful.
My wife and I had a discussion about this after an acquaintance went on a rant about kids not knowing how to write in cursive and "do so much as sew on a button". We concluded that, apart from the core skills of reading, writing and a little math almost every other everyday skill could be quickly learned if someone knows how to use a web search engine and YouTube.
The same is probably true of many tech skills. How do I set up an apache server? Google tells me how and if I'm a visual learner it's probably on YouTube
that's what adolescence is for
Teach them that for many people, tech skills are pointless. They don't need "tech skills" to be successful in life, they need people skills, writing skills, basic math skills, troubleshooting skills, thinking skills. If these kids aren't excited about tech, team them things that DO excite them, like welding, or cooking, or auto repair, or carpentry, or plumbing, or any of a host of other things useful in real life. Not everyone needs "tech skills" to be successful.
Critical reasoning skills from the Prussian Education System? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_education_system
Have them read Brave New World and decide which class they want to belong to: the ones giving orders, the ones taking orders, or the ones living on an island.
Basic vocabulary is a good place to start. Going forward, knowing how to type and how to use an editor efficiently will probably stand them in good stead, brain-reading computer overlords excepted. Knowing how to look up relevant things on the internet might be a longer-term goal, which depends on having a good conceptual framework. Motivation is key but not something you can really teach other than by pointing out some of the possibilities and hoping something grabs their attention.
If that doesn't suit you teach that plus web development. Deploy a drupal installation with Ubercart. Give kids basic skills in technology so they can start there own business. Other good things: search skills. Utterly lacking by nearly everybody. You don't need to be a programmer to find usefullness in typing "x y z" + "c d" site:somesite.com into a search engine to narrow down information. Hell, I can't think of a single business where having good search skills won't come in handy.
Above all else, they need to be freed of the delusion that the ability to use a smart phone or tablet qualifies as "technical skills." Those devices are appliances, and using one does not confer any actual technical skills or knowledge at all.
Back in my university and high school days, it would be like someone who took a typing class claiming that they're "PC literate" because they know how to keyboard.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Ability to download for free the unreasonably expensive textbooks.
The problem for how most people use technology is that they accept the defaults, then laboriously, manually, at each necessary point, alter things by hand so as to achieve the desired effect.
Understanding how to set up:
- style sheets (even in a basic word processor)
- macros (yep, word processors have these too)
- piping commands at the command line
- semantic tagging
will go a long way towards making them more productive (and me much happier when I get book manuscripts which are properly set up).
Hint, if you find it necessary to turn off the viewing of special characters 'cause of the visual noise, you're doing it wrong.
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
if you limit technology to tablets and smartphones you are just teaching HS students to be consumers. In the words of Lazarus Long "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Learn how to learn.
How to be resourceful and find the information that will help you do the things that you need to do.
This advice is more for the young fold, but just as important for the older folk.
Exercise restraint on-line. Once it's out "in the cloud", there is no going back.
They ought to know the basics of how a network is put together. Understand vocabulary like router, server, LAN, WAN, ethernet, packet. Not saying they're all going to be future sysadmins, but people who understand how data gets from one place to another definitely have an advantage in today's world.
Your fantasies contain the seeds of important concepts.
Does anyone teach fundamental internet to kids?
Search engine techniques (not, and, -, site:, etc.)
Positive use of social media (hint: it will follow you forever)
Cloud apps like drive/docs
Honestly the best skill I learned in HS had nothing to do with computers.
It is the one course that I've pushed my daughter to take and one course that I recommend for every HS student everywhere.
This skill has the widest possible use and has served me in every position I've ever had. It is useful both at work as well as at home.
That skill - touch typing. I took the class in HS because I thought it might help with papers, but I've used it even in programming. Sure you don't get the speed with numbers and punctuation as you do typing a document, but I can touch-type my code with relative speed without looking at the keyboard.
So forget trying to pick up a language or a technology stack. By the time they get out of HS and get in the middle of college, most of that technology stack would have been discarded anyway. But if you learn touch typing, well that's a skill that will serve you for as long as we have keyboards.
If the kids are not already interested in tech, I think that the better place to start is with things that they can touch, feel, hold and see. Basic electricity - switches, motors, lights, batteries, etc, leading to building motorized toy cars, boats, or whatever strikes their imagination. They are more likely to become initially interested in physical things before relatively abstract things like files and programming. The next step might then be using Arduino, Pi's, etc, to control the things that they can touch.
High School students don't have the need for most tech skills as part of a general education. There are three skills that would help them no matter what career they have in mind though:
1) Logic - Being able to think clearly is useful for anyone
2) Basic troubleshooting - If you have a broken anything, printer, lawnmower, work process, coffee maker or piece of software the basic idea of how to troubleshoot remains pretty much the same
3) How to find things out when you don't know the answer - Sometimes this also involves figuring out how to decide what your question is
Plus the basics:
-how to do smart searches
-change a password
-add a printer
-use a word processing and spreadsheet program
-change display settings
Most don't. Programmers tend to be particularly bad, particularly when they're trying to think up new jargon to describe their latest brainwave.
Microsoft, with it's culture rooted in 90's C++ techno-machismo is the worst. If I have to hear "Consume services" once more, I may puke. Want to download Powershell from the Microsoft site? Did you expect a file name like "Powershell 4.0 for 64-bit"? Well, peasant, screw you! You shall have decide if you want to download "Windows6.1-KB2819745-x64-MultiPkg.msu", or "Windows6.1-KB2819745-x86-MultiPkg.msu." Don't know your chip numbers? Tough luck, techno-illiterate. We expect you to keep up!
If I ran the world, every software developer on Earth would be handed a copy of this book: http://xkcd.com/thing-explaine.... Not that I think things should be written like this, but at least it would prompt the worst offenders to *think* before they wrote.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
As a help desk call rep for Google in 2008, I had to instruct a software engineer with a freshly-minted Ph.D on how to turn on his computer on. The only computers he used for school work at the university was in the computer labs, where the computers were always on and someone else took care of them. It never occured to him that a computer at an Internet company might be OFF.
HS students need to learn how to count change, I'm pretty sick of them being flummoxed whenever the cash register isn't working correctly.
Being able to operate the digital controls on a fryer is probably a good foundation for a long career as well.
(but seriously, if you want to be an Engineer, and not everyone should, get it in your head that you don't quit buying textbooks and going to class the moment you graduate college)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
They need a longer attention span and the ability to write. Neither of which is going to be served by giving them a laptop.
Sorry.
In addition to all of the above, teaching them to keep their systems up to date and avoid opening email attachments will save them serious grief down the road.
No! we can't let kids find out how the world actually works. The legacy we're leaving them is too embarrassing. It would be best to insulate all of our children in a bubble forever.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
We should be teaching them home economics skills like time management, how to handle money (e.g. avoiding bad debts) and things like nutrition, cooking and how to navigate the health care system. That way they will be prepared to create a healthy & stable life for themselves, no matter what career path they choose.
Beyond that, some additional logic and problem solving focused courses would be helpful. Followed by increased focus on narrative based philosophy/history/social studies and hands-on skills like arts & (metal/wood)working. Once everyone is graduating HS with a basic competency in those areas, then maybe we should find a place for some tech only skills like programming languages and methodologies.
Knowledge Brings Fear
Patience
Humility
Respect
Manners
Curiosity
or, at the risk of becoming another total asshole
The writing template called for affective writing, not effective writing. Birds and butterflies win awards
Mastering the Excel spreadsheet is a better skill than putting a website together. Not all businesses require a website or presence on the Internet, but all business do have to deal with spreadsheets from time to time. Even programmers need to learn how to programmatically move data into and out of spreadsheets for other people to use.
Because convention is 90% of everything... Knowing how to add 2 numbers or measure distance with triangles isn't going to teach you which side of the road to drive on. (Or even that you multiply across then down in matrix multiplication)
and the appreciation for knowledge and understanding. When I look back at pre-college education, thats honestly most of what I took away and its served me well. The desire to learn and figure things coupled with the access to information and mentorship is a recipe for student success. Most skills will be picked up as needed to solve whatever problem you are interested in.
Know how to work a plunger, kid? You're hired!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
lolspeak
What Tech Skills Do HS Students Need To Know Now?
None. When I go to Japan, it is impossible not to notice how intelligent people are. Intelligent as in being able to express themselves, to think, reason, and synthesize positions out of multiple sources of information. This is not to say there aren't ignorant dumb-asses over there, but you can tell that basic, common education delivers over there.
Here, education is quite unequal. Some schools have nothing to envy from countries like Finland, whereas other schools churn graduate kids who cannot add fractions or read an Op.Ed. Student cohorts that gravitate to the later condition tend, IMO, to be the ones least likely to understand the benefits of technology.
Before we even get to the point of teaching technical skills to kids, we need to first worry about teaching them how to reason and operate effectively in a literate world. When they do that, a whole world of thinking opportunities, tasks and problems requiring solving comes into existence.
That gives a context in which technology can be applied. Better yet, people that are already literate begin, on their own, to apply technology to their needs. Beyond that, HS kids need to know the basics of computer security (recognizing spam attempts, running an anti-virus, backing up data on thumb drives, etc.) and basic usage of spreadsheets and word processors.
The last two (spreadsheets and word processors) can only be used effectively in a "problem" context. You use spreadsheets to create a balance, or budget, or to track expenses, or to calculate your mortgage rate, or how the cost of material and labor in making a home repair. That comes with a good understanding of arithmetic and algebra applied to real world problems (such as personal finance).
And all that comes from the capacity of engaging in abstract thinking. Form follows function. The form of solving a problem (using technology) follows function (the need to solve a problem). And a person cannot envision a problem or a need to solve it if he/she cannot think about it in practical, useful and abstract terms.
If the purpose of school is actually educational, then your High School students need to have an independent interest in the the technology they are to be learning. (Although if that is in-place, they don't really need you)
If you simply want kids that obey rules, understand the textbooks, do well on tests, then graduate and go on to take orders from employers and code to spec, then there isn't really much tech-specific information your students need for your students to get started: Reading, writing, and arithmetic.
If you want them to be able to establish requirements, conduct research and invent things, then you're basically SOL here, because that requires skills that can't actually be taught (or even objectively analyzed). It can be promoted, but any attempt to do so will easily pit you against the prevailing academic system (The Prussian Model), since you'd basically have to find those students, put them out of school as early as possible, and give them either meaningful responsibilities or a lot of time to explore and invent.
The number 1 important skill is "learning how to learn". The number 2 important skill is "people skills".
I must be 3-4 years younger than you, since the TRS80 came out when I was still in middle school. I remember walking in front of Radio Shack, there would always be a couple of them out front that kids had written a quick BASIC program to fill the screen with "FRAMPTON RULES" or "John loves Mary".
The first PC we had at home was a Morrow running CPM for its OS. I think it ran Wordstar and Visicalc. Dad used it for programming in COBOL, mostly, with some FORTRAN
and maybe some kind of programming language so they can practice turning their thoughts about a process into an automated one.
An internal system operation returned the error "The operation completed successfully.".
Or counting change.
Since robots will be doing that.
If they are lucky, being able to speak Chinese or Hindi, could be a good thing
Otherwise just have them read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
...about computers.
Yes, they need to know how to read, write, type, and do math, but this question was about computers.
Students should know how to convert base-10 numbers to binary.
They should understand how to map a character set to binary.
They should understand how to add two numbers in binary and then--time permitting--learn about AND/OR/XOR gates.
They should understand the concepts of CPU/memory/bus/network/storage and transferring data over a wire.
They should understand that a network can be wired or wireless.
They should understand what a cloud computing facility looks like and how their files get to/from it.
After the above, given time, you can teach them enough so they can decide whether or not they want to pursue a degree in computer science. This might include parsing a language by hand, talking about simple algorithms and algorithmic complexity, introduction to the Turing machine and computability, and maybe some simple data structures like arrays and linked lists.
Each of the above concepts can be absorbed and exercised in a week.
-Todd
p.s. "Computability" was not in my Chrome dictionary. Sheesh!
Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
1. Change a tire, fill the radiator, change the battery, change the oil (at least know how to check it).
2. Understand the plumbing system in your home.
3. Know how to cook without a microwave and prepackaged foods.
4. Basic navigation...at least know the difference between North South East West.
5. Basic understanding of firearms.
6. Read a map and get somewhere without GPS.
7. How to sharpen a knife.
8. Long division, multiplication, etc...with a pencil and paper.
9. How to swim.
10. Make fire.
Time to go home, so that's all you get.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
They need to know how to speak Hindi so they can communicate with all the H1b co-worker
Master Amiga Basic, and then you can program anything. Start with that, learn it all, and they you will be well on your way to doing all the rest (its like aritimetic: understand how addition, subtraction, multiplication and division work, and then you can add on more advanced topics like Fourier Transforms, Line Integrals, and Navier-Stokes Equations before you transition to higher mathematics.
* Balance a checkbook
* Read a recipe and cook a meal
* Typing
* How to write coherently.
* How to read a blueprint (something I've found very useful)
* Basic woodworking.
* Basic engine mechanics.
* Basic plumbing
* Basic electrical (change a light switch)
Bad User. No biscuit!
I have an App for that.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
1. Security. Strong passwords etc.
2. Privacy. Never post anything to the internet unless you're okay with everyone seeing it for all time and eternity.
We can bray at the top of our lungs, cover our ears and shut our eyes, but no amount of the "Anyone can code" mantra is going to ever be true.
Male or female by the way. You can do anything you want to do is a mantra of athletes, those who just happen to have won the genetic lottery, Same goes for rmental outlook.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I'd be happy if today's HS graduates could read and write in coherent English.
The pedagogical value of cursive (in English, don't know about Arabic or other script languages) is that it teaches a "connectedness" of the letters which helps with language development. This is important in early grades (say grades 2-3) after basic manuscript (printing) has been learned. And it's valuable for some fairly small subset of the learning population. It's been removed from the modern curriculum, except in places where they maintain it as a "link to the past".
However, after that, it has little pedagogical value for most students, who would be better served by learning how to type, spell, and use good grammar. The latter is most aided by lots of reading (lots and lots of reading) of books, since it establishes familiar patterns and usages. Reading here does NOT mean reading the Windows API documents, nor listicles on the web, nor tweets or text messages. It means sustained reading of long passages of a variety of styles.
Back in the day of Palmer method, etc., good penmanship was a sign of good breeding (e.g. it served as a class marker). It helped distinguish the common laborer from the rising middle class: you had to manage the pen and ink, it required substantial time to master (implying that you had the leisure time to do this, as opposed working in the factory or fields). A proper young lady or gentleman would receive instruction in penmanship, along with musical instrument playing, etc.; perhaps to facilitate it's use in the professions or trades; or for giving instruction to the household managers (your sculleries and bootblacks didn't necessarily have writing, but the butler most certainly did)
It also is a form of art training, which is certainly valuable, in the same sense that learning the basics of drafting will stand you in good stead as you stand at the white board drawing pictures to explain concepts. The concept that certain forms are more visually pleasant than others is useful (even if the good/bad distinction is culturally determined): while most of us will not be making a living generating graphic arts and such, a basic facility with layout and composition is useful. (and clearly lacking, based on the powerpoint presentations I see every day)
Cursive is also faster than manuscript (maybe) so there is the idea of taking dictation/notes that is facilitated by cursive. A good part of the curriculum in days of yore was learning (by memory) long passages dictated by the teacher, and fast writing was useful. Today, you'd be better served by fast typing. And, in any case, there is substantial recent literature on optimum note taking strategy, and verbatim copying of the chalk and talk presentation is definitely not it.
Pivot tables and vlookups. Without that you are useless when it comes to data.
Learn to touch type.
Probably one of the biggest, most important tech skill anyone can have today is the ability to sanitize his personal devices of malware and trackers.
I would suggest you teach them how to do basic logical reasoning, you can use programming or blocks for all I care. I need my employees to be able to reason and get to a conclustion quickly. I need them to synthesize the meaning of a subject matter and be able to write about it. I want them to be able to take concepts and apply them to new things. They need to know how to spot social and psychological fallacies, god knows I can't even do that now and I went to college. Its very important to know when the BS is coming down the train at work. Helpes you avoid the stteam roller or unemployment. If these kids can do these things, then there is nothing they can't learn other wise. Show them they can learn, make it fun too, and they will learn the rest of their lives. I am not sure there is anything else I can say.
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP! "No limitations, no boundaries, there is no reason for them."
I would consider the basics of home networking and wireless (both 3g/4g/etc and 802.1xxx), DHCP, LAN management and so on. Stuff that the parents have to pay "experts" to sort it all out and provide economically silly solutions.
You do not want them tied to present or past technologies. The industry changes too fast, and by the time you think you *ought* to teach them something, it will mean that when they hit the market, the target has moved somewhere else. You want to give them the tools for them to pick up any emergent technology on their own. Most may be proficient with facebook, or even a little more advanced, however the more pressing problem I have seen over the years, both in my trainees and in workmates, is the lack of foundations to understand how things work or why they have to do a specific task.
Vote all the politicians who are sending the tech jobs out of country, via H1B.
You kill the H1B program and your HS students can get tech jobs.
You let it prosper and less and less college grads can keep their tech jobs.
Tech skill #2 would be spreading awareness via Youtube and social media about why you will never get a decent tech job until the H1B politicians are voted out.
At a Best Buy store on the anniversary of Moores Law. The salesmen said numbers like a "hundred?" or referred them to another department.
Yes, many may never go 'hard core back-pack' camping out of the reach of a cell tower, but some will. Prepare for it.
Physical education, musical education, literary, history, economic (macro and micro), political science (civics in the old days), public speaking, all should be required and add to the quality and tapestry of life.
The trick is to balance them. ... Who's next on the soap box!
... "When you pry the source from my cold dead hands."
At 48 my non tech wife started nursing school. Most instruction is presented with Power Point. Here is what I had to teach her so she was able to become the most outstanding student in her class.
Search skills. Nursing requires a broad understanding of anatomy, medical terms, and medications. At first she would type Google into the Firefox search bar to start searching. I showed her how to do a Boolean search.
I then had to show her how to save important information. First how to bookmark a page so she could find it later. I showed her how to save a page or image to her computer so she could use it offline.
Students need to learn how to use cooperative email systems to share information with teachers and other students in their class. She had to learn the basics of PowerPoint and Word to review the class information and write reports. She had to learn how to use the print functions of PowerPoint and Word to print out study materials. Knowing the capabilities and settings of the printer allows paper and ink savings by shrinking pages and using double sided printing if available. In an institutional setting students should know how to find and connect to an available printer.
Teach them how to debug with GDB