Something is wrong with schools

Generally, I can say with a small amount of pride that I almost never had someone answer a question for me. It's just that math wasn't as hard at the time when I was in 7-8th grade, and I went to a high school in another town (so I saw my parents only on weekends). The first 2 years my roommate could help me (he was junior, then senior), but I seldom asked and he wasn't much interested, either. The following roomie was in university so he couldn't be bothered, and the next one was 2 years my junior, so he simply couldn't. Overall, I managed to do ok in math - and was p... off at myself for not getting more than 780 on the SAT I Math. On the other hand, thanks to a lot of time spent inside and bad eating habits, my shape was pleasantly rounded and I was no good at most sports Then I went to university and took no math for 2 years. C'est la vie
The one subject I cheated en masse was computer programming for 12th grade. Someone had decided that humanity-profiled students don't need to know how to do a simple html web page, but need to know Cisco networking. Oookaaay, as if someone is going to hire a social scientist or a historian to fix networks. Anyway, the tests included much more than our teacher told us, and as none could get over 80% (it was a competitive school and most of us didn't like a grade as that), we weren't exactly shocked when some of us found the answers on the net. You see, Cisco has the same tests for its levels worldwide, and they don't change over the years. Hardly suprisingly, there was very little variation in our grades afterwards. Except for a few 95%s every now and then - you can't memorize everything, but it's even better than the teacher seeing everyone (total airheads included) get a straight 100%s on each test. Well, I think he knew anyway, but that's another story.

Bottom line: while knowing what to do on the net and how to use a calculator is important, I think some basic skills are necessary. When I become a parent, I could give my children hints, but I don't intend to do their homework for them. Of course, it also depends on their future mother

 

@The Shaman: Yeah, I don't intend to do homework for my future children, either. And it also depends on their future mother, so as I'm no fan of fighting over control with my future wife, I guess this adds a factor for me to consider in making the right decision.

But back to the topic... IT in my highschool wasn't a big thing. Two years of "elements of IT" and mostly useless stuff. Or not. Don't know. Later on, each lesson had an assignment. Do the basic one or get a failing note. Do the more complicated version and get an A. I didn't care to do the basic, so I always had someone bring it to me on a diskette when I was surfing the net. Then, I took the basic one, did the improved version on it and handed the diskette back to people who distributed it. ... And I returned to my surfing.