An important consideration is that this plan would only (hopefully) affect one SPECIES of mosquito. Different mosquitoes don't interbreed (much).
In an ideal world, this strategy would be used to control the species of mosquitoes that carry certain human diseases, while the others are unaffected, or even encouraged since they now have less competition.
If by some accident, we wipe out all mosquitoes everywhere, we just have to release new ones from captivity. Yes, it would be an ecological disaster, but very unlikely (for hordes of reasons) and easily righted if a problem arises.
I've taught AP computer science, but I currently work in the private sector, so I've seen both sides.
From observing my students and observing my coworkers, there is a simple distinguishing hallmark of success: excitement. If you are interested about the subject matter, then you're going to pour yourself into it, care about the picky details, and generally do well. If you're just aiming for a better paycheck, you may succeed, but you're never going to have fun doing it - and it will show in the quality of your work.
Personally I learned from my dad when I was about ten-years old. He taught me some BASIC, and I kept begging for more. Then he brought home a Turbo Pascal book with a green-and-black chalkboard cover. I still have it somewhere, because it's still the best teaching manual I've ever touched. I wish whoever wrote that thing had written today's syllabus for the computer science classes.
Carrying it on, with a little help at the start, my five-year old son is programming in Python. He has the excitement. He can read the online manuals and tutorials. The math requirements are too steep for the graphics he wants to pull off, but that just expands his interests. I see him learning, and I see a version of myself starting five years earlier. It would be foolish of me to delay or discourage when the opportunity is now. Am I making a mistake? Time will tell.
You may be shaking your head right now. Yes, he's just now finishing kindergarten. However, he was reading novels last year, because he learned to read by watching the text on the computer screen and asking questions. Side point: big parental thumbs up to computer games that have lots of text! Have you noticed that most games aimed at toddlers have NO text? Garbage in, garbage out.
My main concern is that when he gets to formal CS coursework, the bland nonsense that I've seen is going to rip that excitement out of him.
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An important consideration is that this plan would only (hopefully) affect one SPECIES of mosquito. Different mosquitoes don't interbreed (much).
In an ideal world, this strategy would be used to control the species of mosquitoes that carry certain human diseases, while the others are unaffected, or even encouraged since they now have less competition.
If by some accident, we wipe out all mosquitoes everywhere, we just have to release new ones from captivity. Yes, it would be an ecological disaster, but very unlikely (for hordes of reasons) and easily righted if a problem arises.
I've taught AP computer science, but I currently work in the private sector, so I've seen both sides.
From observing my students and observing my coworkers, there is a simple distinguishing hallmark of success: excitement. If you are interested about the subject matter, then you're going to pour yourself into it, care about the picky details, and generally do well. If you're just aiming for a better paycheck, you may succeed, but you're never going to have fun doing it - and it will show in the quality of your work.
Personally I learned from my dad when I was about ten-years old. He taught me some BASIC, and I kept begging for more. Then he brought home a Turbo Pascal book with a green-and-black chalkboard cover. I still have it somewhere, because it's still the best teaching manual I've ever touched. I wish whoever wrote that thing had written today's syllabus for the computer science classes.
Carrying it on, with a little help at the start, my five-year old son is programming in Python. He has the excitement. He can read the online manuals and tutorials. The math requirements are too steep for the graphics he wants to pull off, but that just expands his interests. I see him learning, and I see a version of myself starting five years earlier. It would be foolish of me to delay or discourage when the opportunity is now. Am I making a mistake? Time will tell.
You may be shaking your head right now. Yes, he's just now finishing kindergarten. However, he was reading novels last year, because he learned to read by watching the text on the computer screen and asking questions. Side point: big parental thumbs up to computer games that have lots of text! Have you noticed that most games aimed at toddlers have NO text? Garbage in, garbage out.
My main concern is that when he gets to formal CS coursework, the bland nonsense that I've seen is going to rip that excitement out of him.