23 Nov
2007
23 Nov
'07
9:40 a.m.
On 23 Nov 2007 at 15:32, Stroller wrote:
Not pointing fingers at you in particular, Chris, but
I've been
following this thread casually, and it seems to me that a lot of
people's views of this are clouded by their own perspectives.
...
IMO the number of teenagers making significant
contributions to Open
Source Software is a testament to this "availability" theory.
One thing that I've learned in my life is to never underestimate the
capability of a young person to absorb knowledge. I do believe that
it's not only possible but desirable to teach technical matters
beginning with a "first principles" approach rather than a "cookbook"
approach.
I'll readily grant that some things may be too complex to effectively
teach to the very young, such as economics, cosmological theories,
the game of cricket...
Cheers,
Chuck