[geeks] Education

[wa2egp at att.net]

> >>   Wha...? Really?! Horrifying.
> >>   Heck, I correct "professional" writing here at work with a red pen
> >>all the time. I even proof-read a friend's book (over and over and over)
> >>and did it to him -- and he wrote _better_. Some people may think I'm a
> >>jerk, but there's no substitute for seeing something you considered
> >>"finished" showing up looking like a scrap of old butcher's paper. :7)
> >>-wde
> >>--
> >>Will Enestvedt
> >>UNIX System Administrator
> >>Johnson & Wales University -- Providence, RI

<snip> 

> The Marines taught me COBOL back when.  The instructors kept a huge red 
> marker in their den.
> 
> First time one of the students got the treatment the instructor unfolded 
>   the printout and very neatly scrawled W-R-O-N-G across pages of 
> fanfold and handed it back, smirking, at the kid.
> 
> You _learn_ things that way.  But then Marines - even data dinks - are 
> not going to be careful about your feelings when results matter.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Brian Dunbar
> System Administrator
> Liftport
> 
> brian.dunbar at liftport.com
> aim: bdunbar1967

I'm glad that there seems to be agreement that wrong s wrong and that
the "student" needs to learn that.  A friend sent me a little
article (for lack of a better word) about Bill Gate's rules for
living that he gave to a high school class.  The first one I like.
It says in effect, "Life is unfair, get used to it."  There is another
one that says, "The world won't care about your self esteem. The world
expects you accomplish something before you can feel good about yourself."
Whether Gates actually said these things or not, they're still good.
Unfortunately, this is not the present attitude in education.

Bob