I've been saying, for more years that I care to remember, that we should remove all the driving aids (ABS; ASC; HDC; TSC; ABC; 123; Power this, that, & the other; seat belts; form-fitting seats; and so on) and replace them with a stainless steel spike (about 8 inches long) in the center of the steering wheel.
It won't take long for speeds to reduce dramatically, and for bigger gaps to appear between cars.
It's not that cars are safer, it's that drivers have to push harder to get the same "buzz" from driving: I cruise the highways at *cough* in my Saab, and half that in my '49 classic car[1]. Not because one is better than the other, but because those are the speeds I get the "involvement" buzz...
So, ditch all the high-tech, and make driving a car dangerous. When it hurts, you'll take care.
[1]: Think on this: if my TCS/ABS/ASC stuff allow me to drive my Saab into a corner at 80mph, yet my classic can only do the same corner at 45mph - which is going to hurt more when I discover that some farmer has dropped a pile of pig-sh*t on the road and I've suddenly not got the grip I thought I had?
I never push people into using my favorite apps, however I do point out the weaknesses/flaws in apps that I know of... and this menas that I try to lead people away from Outlook & IE.
Unfortunately neither Abiword or Open Office are really up to the task of replacing Word for 80% of the users:
The users are not computer-savvy, and can use word because it's familiar... and they get somewhat nervous when given something new or different to use
The users are power-users, and have a reportoir of skills for a particular product, some of which will not translate (easily) to another product.
What is interesting in this, is to compare the OpenOffice v's MS Office battle to the Word v's WordPerfect; or MS Office to Lotus Suite...
Kids on the street at 1:30pm - lunchtime? Who is supposed to look after the kids at lunchtime, or are teachers expected to go without lunch?
15 weeks vacation: Everyone jumps on this one.. When was the last time your partner stopped you working at 10pm? I have to stop my wife most nights.
When are teachers supposed to write (and photocopy) the handouts that the kids get during lessons? And don't say "use the ones from last year" because this whole tread is against that very line!
When are teachers supposed to write the tests that the kids sit to check they have learnt the topic they have just finished
When are the teachers supposed to mark the test they just wrote to give to the kids for the topic they've just finished (In the UK, it's a requirement for every kid to pass an end-of-topic test before they are allowed to begin a new topic, so the teacher may have to write several tests to get everyone passed - and the tests could be examined by an external examiner, with the implications to the teacher being obvious!)
When are the teachers supposed to deal with the paper-work that is required to record every action, exam, test, misdomeener and punishment as each pupil does it (to protect from the possibility of a law-suit from an over-protective parent [who see's a quick buck and doesn't care about who they get it from], and it's not just the USA that has a "Sue first, question later" attitude)
All the money is available for classroom teachers and books. Nope, sorry. What about administrators, janitors, cleaning staff, catering staff, nurses, heating bills, lighting bills, building repair bills,..etc..?
Parent know best. Sorry, more crap. Just because a parent went to school, does not mean that they know about teaching.
Most parents assume that their kids tell the truth and work hard.
Most parents will assume that a child who says they have no homework, has no homework - why? Rather than lay into teachers, support them.
If a child gets no discepline at home, the teacher is going to struggle to instill it at schools - after all, the kid only spends 5.5 hours out of 24 there!
If you only have 2 weeks holiday (plus public holidays) get another job! That's one week during the summer and one week at christmas! The worst I ever had was 20 days, rising to 25 after 6 years of service.
Did you know that teaching has an abnormally high rate of Alcoholism, Divorce and Suicide, compared to other professions? There must be a reason....
I want to amplify on three areas: pay, responsibility and hours
Pay: In UK Universities, pay for Computing staff runs from ~15K to ~60K (UK pounds). I'm on about 20K (ie, low-ish). My wife, who has been teaching for 8 years, has hit the top of her pay scale.
Without moving to a more managerial role, she cannot get any higher - and I earn more!
Without a compensatory wage, why should people dedicate huge effort into an unrewarding job?
Responsibility: OK, You're a parent, and you work (like most parents in the 1st world today). You pack young Jonny into your company car, and drive them to school. You drop them off, into the care of professionals (you wouldn't want an amature to look after your precious offspring, now would you?).
This professional has to ensure that the (20-30) children in their care arrive, stay safe for 6 hours (I'm excluding break times here) and then they leave, Whole and hale.
A science teacher has 20+ children playing with live flames, or electricity, or chemicals.
All teachers have 20+ children who require, nay - need, attention. No favoritism, no one can be ignored, disceplin at all times. The kids, of course, just want to chat and play - learning quietly is anathema to them!
Hours: Lets do a simple sum here:
120 children get 1 piece of homework per week (although they are seen twice by the teacher). Thus the teacher has 120 pieces of homework to mark.
If each piece of homework takes 10 minutes to mark, double check, sum and record then:
120 x 10 = 1200 (minutes)
1200 / 60 = 120 / 6 = 20 (hours)
Of course, it takes more than 10 minutes to mark a 30-question, multiple-choice question, and takes longer still to mark a senior-school essay!
Would you accept crap pay for such a heavy responsibility, and still do you do over 20 hours unpaid work per week, every week?
And, yes, I was a terrible pupil at school. It's only after I married a teacher that I saw the other side of the desk.
Too any of my teachers who may read this (and I doubt that any of them will..) I apologise...
I'll apologise in advance - this is a topic close to my heart!
When writing pages, the author does NOT control the final image, the customers client does that. As web page editors, we can only suggest the presentation elements.
When I teach courses on HTML, I pound on about HTML validators, such as http://validator.w3.org/ for correct (ie valid) HTML, and http://www.cast.org/bobby/ for accessibility issues (such as EM instead of I)
In my opinion, no WYSIWYG editor produces HTML that is valid for both HTML level 4 and accessibility!
By all means, use these tools, but be aware of the issues that they raise, and learn the coding so that you can correct their mistakes.
Slashdot Mirror
I've been saying, for more years that I care to remember, that we should remove all the driving aids (ABS; ASC; HDC; TSC; ABC; 123; Power this, that, & the other; seat belts; form-fitting seats; and so on) and replace them with a stainless steel spike (about 8 inches long) in the center of the steering wheel.
It won't take long for speeds to reduce dramatically, and for bigger gaps to appear between cars.
It's not that cars are safer, it's that drivers have to push harder to get the same "buzz" from driving: I cruise the highways at *cough* in my Saab, and half that in my '49 classic car[1]. Not because one is better than the other, but because those are the speeds I get the "involvement" buzz...
So, ditch all the high-tech, and make driving a car dangerous. When it hurts, you'll take care.
[1]: Think on this: if my TCS/ABS/ASC stuff allow me to drive my Saab into a corner at 80mph, yet my classic can only do the same corner at 45mph - which is going to hurt more when I discover that some farmer has dropped a pile of pig-sh*t on the road and I've suddenly not got the grip I thought I had?
Unfortunately neither Abiword or Open Office are really up to the task of replacing Word for 80% of the users:
What is interesting in this, is to compare the OpenOffice v's MS Office battle to the Word v's WordPerfect; or MS Office to Lotus Suite...
There are several important referential threads here:
All three work in the same genre are Douglas Adams.
Having all three in one project could only have been bettered by having Douglas Adams involved as well!
I'm sorry, bit this is just plain WRONG
Did you know that teaching has an abnormally high rate of Alcoholism, Divorce and Suicide, compared to other professions? There must be a reason....
I too am married to a teacher.
I want to amplify on three areas: pay, responsibility and hours
Would you accept crap pay for such a heavy responsibility, and still do you do over 20 hours unpaid work per week, every week?
And, yes, I was a terrible pupil at school. It's only after I married a teacher that I saw the other side of the desk.
Too any of my teachers who may read this (and I doubt that any of them will..) I apologise...
Please, don't do it!
Don't allow your people to edit live pages - they never know who is going to load that mis-edited page they haven't debugged yet!
web pages should be tested out of the public web arena, then merged in when - and only when - they have been finished.
When writing pages, the author does NOT control the final image, the customers client does that. As web page editors, we can only suggest the presentation elements.
When I teach courses on HTML, I pound on about HTML validators, such as http://validator.w3.org/ for correct (ie valid) HTML, and http://www.cast.org/bobby/ for accessibility issues (such as EM instead of I)
In my opinion, no WYSIWYG editor produces HTML that is valid for both HTML level 4 and accessibility!
By all means, use these tools, but be aware of the issues that they raise, and learn the coding so that you can correct their mistakes.
All I need now is to find out which BBC programs are broadcast in HD!