I agree with what you say there. Thinking back on my "pull-out program", the thing that first comes to mind is the smell of dissecting cow brains and squashing them around with a popsicle stick. What did I learn from the 'sparks' program? Cow brains smell funny.
Oh yeah, and the aquarium has fishies in it.
But my point remains-- That was the best the school system had to offer; that was what the gifted kids were graced with. I never said that the best the tertiary/secondary educational system offered wasn't intellectually on par with eating lead paint...
But to get back on topic; I would have had a much greater opportunity to educate myself at that age had I been given the internet, a pc, and an invitation to think for myself.
All the computers at school had to offer at my age was asdf jkl; training and 'jetpack'.
I remember a childhood friend of mine who had a 286 at home... He made his own games at 14 with it using GWbasic- both of us lived in the same crappy school district, but because his parents gave him that opportunity, he programs now while I clean up spyware for beer.
Give the children broadband I say, and let them decide if, what, and how much they want to learn, as opposed to leaving it up to Mz. Krabappel, Principal Skinner, and Superintendent Chalmers.
'but if you're not taking advantage of them (schools), that's your fault.'
ahh yes, good old school. That's where I was taught to sit down and stand up by a bell, eat tater tots, and pledge allegiance. It's not that they aren't great schools; it's that they're horrible. Teachers teaching to the tests against their will, and being underpaid doesn't attract the best ones (that's not to say that there aren't some excellent teachers around if you're lucky enough to have one). The way our educational system is designed is to focus on the few bright kids at the expense of the others. I was lucky enough to get the extra attention but the main thing I learned was that self education is often superior (excluding some types of job training). IMO, High speed internet is the single most valuable resource for self education around. Broadband causes education if one is so inclined, or with a niche site, it can also cause income.
Of course; that will only put a small dent in the generations of social capital the upper strata of society accumulates.
Upon discovering DSL reports has no bugmenot account, I promptly created one:
user: asdffdsaasdf password: asdfasdf
If just one of five people emailed the 'RIAA dentist' to inform him of his excessive douchebaggery (moppenheim@jenner.com) the world would be a better place.
P.S. ARRR ARRRRR Sir Tandeth; i've come to take your booty!
im all for the coating on the top: most of my cds scratch there first, and unlike a scratch on the bottom, which can be repaired, lose the reflective coating and you're SOL.
(thats why they block the view of the tops of blank cd stacks IMO, they dont want us to see if its a crappy silver flake off stuff or if it has that nice enamel-like coating.)
oh no, gotta run, 20-30 cd's just made a mad dash for the microwave!
Slashdot Mirror
I RTFA and... Firefox prevented this site from opening a pop-up window... Click here for options... Nice.
I agree with what you say there. Thinking back on my "pull-out program", the thing that first comes to mind is the smell of dissecting cow brains and squashing them around with a popsicle stick. What did I learn from the 'sparks' program? Cow brains smell funny.
Oh yeah, and the aquarium has fishies in it.
But my point remains-- That was the best the school system had to offer; that was what the gifted kids were graced with. I never said that the best the tertiary/secondary educational system offered wasn't intellectually on par with eating lead paint...
But to get back on topic; I would have had a much greater opportunity to educate myself at that age had I been given the internet, a pc, and an invitation to think for myself.
All the computers at school had to offer at my age was asdf jkl; training and 'jetpack'.
I remember a childhood friend of mine who had a 286 at home... He made his own games at 14 with it using GWbasic- both of us lived in the same crappy school district, but because his parents gave him that opportunity, he programs now while I clean up spyware for beer.
Give the children broadband I say, and let them decide if, what, and how much they want to learn, as opposed to leaving it up to Mz. Krabappel, Principal Skinner, and Superintendent Chalmers.
'but if you're not taking advantage of them (schools), that's your fault.'
ahh yes, good old school. That's where I was taught to sit down and stand up by a bell, eat tater tots, and pledge allegiance. It's not that they aren't great schools; it's that they're horrible. Teachers teaching to the tests against their will, and being underpaid doesn't attract the best ones (that's not to say that there aren't some excellent teachers around if you're lucky enough to have one). The way our educational system is designed is to focus on the few bright kids at the expense of the others. I was lucky enough to get the extra attention but the main thing I learned was that self education is often superior (excluding some types of job training). IMO, High speed internet is the single most valuable resource for self education around. Broadband causes education if one is so inclined, or with a niche site, it can also cause income.
Of course; that will only put a small dent in the generations of social capital the upper strata of society accumulates.
Upon discovering DSL reports has no bugmenot account, I promptly created one:
user: asdffdsaasdf
password: asdfasdf
If just one of five people emailed the 'RIAA dentist' to inform him of his excessive douchebaggery (moppenheim@jenner.com) the world would be a better place.
P.S. ARRR ARRRRR Sir Tandeth; i've come to take your booty!
so try mepis, then-- its got the hd install covered.
that was hilarious.
18kfanGUI - Thanks Christian Diefer.
BGinfo- Thanks Bryce Cogsweell.
keep up the good work
all good pro-lifers support the death penalty...
paper stickers and a marker can help:)
im all for the coating on the top: most of my cds scratch there first, and unlike a scratch on the bottom, which can be repaired, lose the reflective coating and you're SOL.
(thats why they block the view of the tops of blank cd stacks IMO, they dont want us to see if its a crappy silver flake off stuff or if it has that nice enamel-like coating.)
oh no, gotta run, 20-30 cd's just made a mad dash for the microwave!
and i always thought that trying to load doom3 on my abacus made it freeze... it seems i need more patience!