What did I learn in school?

I learned a lot but I’ve forgotten most of it.

I find I remember the classroom setting more than I do what was actually taught.  Maybe this is why so many of us think we were never taught about certain things.  I can still picture my first elementary school, buying Victory stamps, and the VE banner that was displayed.  I remember reading Dick and Jane and writing the numbers out to 200!

I remember many things about my second elementary school, but the classroom scenario that sticks out the most is the vote on the distance to the moon.  What, a vote on a scientific fact?  I remember a fourth-grade substitute science teacher doing this.  For years, I thought she didn’t know and was asking the class.  But she may have only been sampling the class.  I remember that incident more than I do how far is it to the moon.  Without looking it up, I’d say 250,000 miles. With all the moon shots in the news, you would think that number would stick better in my head. Is this one of those facts that get forgotten because we can always look it up if we really need to know?

I do remember learning typing and driving, probably the two most important life-long skills most of us need and use.  I do remember taking French in 8th grade, but I didn’t continue because I would rather learn printing.  How many people set type by hand now?  I took Latin in high school because I was advised that it was the basis for many other languages.  All I remember of that two and half-years was that I was elected president of the Latin club, and we read an abridged “Aeneid” and “Horatio at the Bridge”.  I remember a music teacher telling us that anyone with intelligence can learn to sing.  I didn’t get around to learning until I was in my 60s, and now I don’t practice enough to keep my voice in shape.

I don’t remember learning much about World War II in school.  That may because we might have been using textbooks that hadn’t been updated.  Also the teacher was not very inspiring.  The only history I remember from that whole year is a picture of the Haymarket Square riot in a text book. The picture was on the right-hand page of the small but thick orange textbook.  The picture was an engraving from some archive; I don’t remember if it was a photograph or a drawing.  And I don’t remember much about the Haymarket Square riot other than there was lot of police violence.  It was probably labor related and took place in Chicago.

Was I taught about Hiroshima and Nagasaki in my American History class?  I don’t remember.  I had that class in 1954.  It could be that the textbook hadn’t been updated.  These events have been reported over and over for almost 70 years, and so it is hard to remember where I learned what.

Another digression: “, and so…”  Mr. Conrad, my 11th grade English teacher, frequently told us how to use "and so", but I don’t remember exactly what he prescribed.  This particular piece of grammar was almost the only thing I remember from the class.

I had Mister Rush for trigonometry and another class.  I don’t remember much of the material but I remember his punctuating his remarks with “When you go to Case…”  meaning Case Institute of Technology, now part of Case Western Reserve University.  Darned if five of us didn’t go to Case. Only two of us graduated, yours truly not being one.  But I got to come back for graduate school.

Now, Miss Palmer, I remember her well.  She was a fearsome taskmaster, but she taught Shakespeare well.  I enjoyed reading an act each day for homework for both “Hamlet” and “Macbeth”, and then we would reread each act a few scenes at a time.  She gave me a lifelong love of Shakespeare, but I have yet to read all of his plays.

Interestingly, I don’t remember taking much homework home.  I had two study halls most days and got most of it done in one of them.  The rest of my study hall time I read science fiction from the school library.

College and graduate school are also a blur.  I remember translating “Clementine” into French,  I remember reading Candide (English, condensed) and “Brothers Karamazov”.  On the latter, what did I care what the meaning of the mortar and pestle was?

How much do you remember of school?  For most of us, that is only what we use on a regular basis.  I have a Master’s in mathematics and I don’t remember anything from “Functions of Complex Variables” in graduate school.  I do remember the book was blue, I think the author was from India, and it is still on the right hand side of my book case, first shelf above the bottom shelf.

What we really learned in school was to learn.

Back to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, I remember reading about the horrible deaths both immediate and years later.  I remember that prisoners of war were killed in the blast.  I remember the justification that lives were “saved”.  I have long questioned how many kids’ lives is one soldier’s life worth.

Where I think I learned this is from reading newspapers regularly.  If your only news source is radio or TV you’ll never have time for all there is to know.  With newspapers, you have a larger selection of stories, you read them at your convenience, and with the Internet, you have a huge selection to choose from.

One of Mel's high school classmates said, "Learn something each day."  Mel often wishes he wouldn't forget it the next day.

Also published in Reader Weekly, 2014-08-14 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/08/14/3890_what_did_i_learn_in_school

Reading, writing, and coding?

Some parents, school districts, and companies are pushing for kids as young as seven to be involved in programming computers.  See “Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding”, New York Times, May 10, 2014.  Part of the rationale is it is a “basic life skill, one that might someday lead to a great job or even instant riches.”

Or, “Computer science is big right now — in our country, the world,” a mother said. “If my kids aren’t exposed to things like that, they could miss out on potential opportunities and careers.”

Really?

Coding is a means to problem solving.  One can code all kinds of things, but if one doesn’t use the “right” language, no amount of coding work will get one a job.  The job market is littered with people who were whiz-bang coders but can’t get jobs because they don’t have the right “skill set”.  Never mind that many programmers have learned and keep learning new languages, if they haven’t learned the language of the day yet they won’t be hired.  See the writings of Norman Matloff.

Matloff, a college professor, is in an enviable position.  He can learn a new computer language, write a book about it, and get people to buy the book; no personnel department checks on his “skill sets”.  He wrote “The Art of R Programming”.  R?  What is that?  I bet most readers never heard of R.  I don’t have space for more description here, but it “is the world’s most popular language for developing statistical software”.  According the publisher, No Starch Press, “Archeologists use it to track the spread of ancient civilizations.”  Didn’t learn R in elementary school?  According to the statements of some, there goes your career in archaeology!

Remember when learning BASIC was the rage.  How many who learned BASIC got jobs using BASIC?

I posted the following comment to the New York Times article.  Unfortunately, it was not accepted, possibly because there were so many more like it already.

“I have been involved with computers for over 50 years, and in some cases was considered a whiz. But I feel somewhat left behind. Not because my problem solving abilities have deteriorated, but because programming languages have become more obtuse.

“The real skill people need is problem solving, whether its why their computer doesn't behave as it did yesterday or why the answering machine message disappeared. I just replaced the answering machine message, now to figure out how to get my wife's iPad to once again access my iPhone hotspot through Bluetooth.

“I might do it, or I might not. I do know I recently figured out a problem that the Geek Squad couldn't. In short, it was about what program was active at the time of the problem.

“Oh, by the way, how well did the rush to learn BASIC a few years ago really work out.”

A better approach might be courses in problem solving in many different disciplines.  How do you make a pleasant melody?  How do you draw?  How do you settle an argument?  What is the true meaning of a set of “statistics”?  What data is needed?  Are we working on the right problem?  How to read a map and plan a route?

“Corporations increasingly are looking for skill-sets. Thinkers need not apply. But is that what we want emerging from our schools? Easily disposable cogs?”  A comment by RuthMarie to “Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding?”

As an example of how narrow skill sets are, consider that energy traders in Europe are being laid off because of the move to alternative energy.  They are considered so specialized that they aren’t being hired for other trading jobs.  “Energy Trader Turned Caribbean Surfer Watches Wind for Waves”, Bloomberg, May 21, 2014.  So, a trader in energy can’t learn to trade in steel or bonds or …?

What is happening in the Duluth Public Schools regarding computers and other skills?  You can find the middle and high school course catalogs on the schools’ website (http://www.isd709.org).

Sixth graders take a one semester course on computers (see Business Education).  The primary focus is on development of touch typing. Along the way they learn to produce “letters, flyers, memos, tables, outlines, spreadsheet[s],…and slide show presentations.”

To me, these are skills almost all of us need sometime in life.  How many people do you know that still hunt and peck at a keyboard?  How often have you watched a speaker get lost in his or her own PowerPoint presentation?

I had to wait until 11th grade to take typing; it was an elective for me, not a requirement.  It has been one of the two most important classes I took in high school.  The other was driving.  I use these two skills more than anything else I learned in high school.  Driving is no longer offered in many high schools.  I did not find it in the Duluth “High School Course Book”.

What I did find is something for more interesting than the shop courses I took (wood working, metal working, and printing): Pre-engineering!  Who sets print by hand anymore?  All seventh graders are required to take it, and the focus will be on design and modeling.  They will work both individually and in groups.  The lone coder bent over a coding sheet is a myth; his or her work has to mesh with that of lots of other people.

Pre-engineering is part of the “Project Lead the Way” curriculum.  It continues in high school with other courses.  One of the objectives is to “develop students’ innovative, collaborative, cooperative, problem-solving skills.”

Now all we need is more employers who look for generalists rather than narrow specialists.

Mel learned coding at 20, programmed main frames until 44, programmed personal computers until 57, and is still debugging the coding of hotshots at 76.

Published in the Reader Weekly, 29 May 2014 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/05/29/3449_reading_writing_and_coding.

How did I type Japanese?

You may have guessed, since I didn't write all of my Japanese message in Japanese, that I don't really speak Japanese.  You're right!  I know a few hundred words and a few grammar points.  Not really enough for a conversation or to order in a restaurant other than "nippon birru, kudasai!"  "Two beers, please!"

If you have a Mac, you can switch languages with a click of the mouse.

I was going to give you a long, possibly incorrect explanation, but I'll let your Mac give you a better one.

Go to the Finder and click-hold Help on the menu bar.

Type "foreign" next to "Search".

Click on "Typing in another language" and follow the directions.

Now, if you select Hiragana as the language to type, then type "nippon birru kudasai" you will get

日本ビッルください

You might have to start typing on a separate line.

BTW, if you are using TextEdit, you have to be careful when typing in English,  I typed "nippon birru kudasai" and it became "nippon bird kudasai".   Proofread!  Proofread!