57 replies to this topic

[alexia]

I really despise high school students that can learn real computer skills in their school; part because my school's computer program is crap. Anybody can use the computer better than the computer teacher, and most of us don't even get a computer class.

The result? Half of my classmates doesn't know how to use Excel or Powerpoint. Most of them hardly know what Photoshop is. Technology is progressing at a really high rate, and it is becoming a big part of our lives. You're basically disabled if you can't use a computer. So why doesn't high school education put so focus into teaching the use of technology? Why wait until the college days?

I don't see any reason how a technology class would not enhance the traditional subjects. By learning more, we can enlarge our view and broaden our knowledge.

Maybe this is more social than technology lol.

[htmlmaster]

Thank you!!! I'm not alone in the world of school technology stupidity. I agree, the most advanced thing that we have done in computer class this year was probably powerpoint. No one in my class has a clue what Photoshop is and wouldn't dare try to use it. I would be the only one who owns a website or even knows a web programming language. Some people need help logging out of a networked computer, and some just can't. (I have turned the computer *when it was in standby mode* and about 3-4 times this year the same person was still logged in, tend to doubt that person ever longs out.)

[melkonianarg]

Well at my high school, we have 64 bit athlon prccessors, perfect for DVD's, Image editing, 3d Graphics/Animation, .net Programming, u name it...u know what all 40ish computers are used for, online games, it sucks...atleast some people ahv the sense to use them for their rightful purposes maybe 5 dvds/day and 2/graphics realted thingys, the rest is surfing the net...i am at my HOUSE now surfing on a thin client because i am at bording school....it is really slow and annoying, no CD drive, music etc. just surfing a dn typing...i suppose thats enough for any chemistry prep or history essays lol

[Yipster]

Do you go to highschool or elementary? I know that my former elementary school still has crap computers. But in the highschool we 6 labs of top quality computers. Though we don't learn how to use Photoshop because the licensing is too expensive. So were stuck with Dreamweaver and Fireworks. I feel sorry for you if your school doesn't have industry standard computers. But don't worry, all post secondary schools have top of the line comps. So I guess you'll just have to wait till then or purchase one for yourself.

[Kubi]

The computers at my school (P.V. High) are crap. We have Window XP Pro, but the computers are hardly fast enough to support it. In our "Computer Apps" class, only teaches Excel, Word, DB, and Publsiher. We only learn the basics, it's so stupid. People come into the class and do nothing. They learn nothing becuz the teachers half the time don't know what they're talking about. I've proved a teacher wrong before, and they got mad. I mean, I'm not teaching this class, they are.

[Invader]

At my prep school our technology fund was very high. They all used XP Pro and you had your own laptop. Most assignments are on the computer and our Spanish teachers didn't go a class without using a computer.

Now on the other hand, my old high school has very little in the technology fund. They have to go to a different school just to take classes regarding Photoshop or Macromedia. So it could be worse, just think about it.

[psychiccyberfreak]

I know, my school forces us to "learn the basics" AGAIN. Why do I want to review how to save a docunment when I have a couple hundred on my web site!!! I learned that stuff in elementry school, and they want me to do it again, when I can be found after school with my palm pilot tapping into the school's network on AIM. Wow.

[Hamtaro]

I wish my school had some better computers, AND have some teachers in a computer class where I can actually LEARN. In my keyboarding apps class this past year, I didn't learn anything, except for how fast I can type! We used Word, that's it! Oh, and I've also had to deal with them telling us how to save documents EVERY YEAR! Our computers (Windows XP Professional) are also a piece of crap. Slow, messing up all the time, and some won't even start up right! I envy all of you who have a school with decent computers!

[TimothyA]

Schools with slow computers and low budget....please use *nix and hire a REAL IT expert with EXPERIENCE. (Not one of those certified it experts who know nothing). Windows XP Pro is total bloat, Microsoft Office is total bloat.....what more could there be bloat with the word microsoft on it?

Back to topic...there are worse schools that are beyond help...like my school. Last year we got top-of-the-chart computers...meaning Windows XP Pro on a 100MHz P1 computer with 28MB SDRAM.... seriously.....I wonder how they managed to get Windows XP Pro on it

And then our "IT Expert" woah....I knew everything better than him, heck, I even knew more than him and I'm not even half his age while I already knew it when I was 7 years old.

They should pay ME 20 USD an hour if they want to teach kids something, not some IT Expert that's certified and has no hands-on experience with whatsoever has to do with computers... the guy didn't even knew what unix stood for or what a kernel is....comeon man!

Btw, I'm 15

On another note...we had the BIT test (to choose out professions we will be able to get if we follow a specific course...) and the teacher comes to me and says I need to learn spanish, english, papiamentu and economics to become an IT expert....wtf?

[Ralphie]

my school has an ok budget for technology stuff. they replace the computers like every other year in some parts of the school. they are not top of the line or anything but they are good enough to get the job done. But i agree that schools really need to expand the curriculum in the technology area. two years ago i took a website authoring class and they hardly teach you anything. they tell you the basics and make you use frames (which i rarely see used anymore). then they put you on dreamweaver which does everything for you, so if you didnt understand things in the first place, it didnt really matter. and everything i do seems to be almost self-taught stuff in school. the teachers hardly do anything except give you a book to read or an assignment. it just seems that technology is speeding ahead while a lot of the education about the technology is just lagging behind in many schools.

[RazorICE]

At my school, I have no idea what kind of computers they are, but they're more powerful than mine, and mine is a pretty new (a few months old) computer! They have a bunch of programs on them, including Photoshop, all of Microsoft Office, Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver, and loads of other cool stuff.

We even have Counter Strike on the computers (no lie, we get to play CS in class (since it's the last week of term at the moment))!

But yeah, we use the computer labs a lot in our school, there are 6 computer labs total: one in the library, one in the science block, one in the technology block, two on the second floor and one on the third. So, basically any class can just head off to a computer lab if needed (though some are booked for some lessons). Anything that we need to use computers for, or a computer can facilitate us, we use the computer labs.

There are even some class rooms that have computers (though they are older computers, probably 3 years old or less).

We also have a lot of technology classes, including: Internets & Intranets, Digital Images, Multimedia, Computer Applications, and Computer Programming.

Though, I think it would be awsome if every student got a laptop from the school

[Jeigh]

At my high school we learned GWBASIC for programming...yupp...we did indeed...it was awesome in an "OMG LET ME DIE NOW PEACEFULLY!!!" kind of way...

[bureX]

melkonianarg, on Jun 23 2005, 09:16 PM, said:

Well at my high school, we have 64 bit athlon prccessors, perfect for DVD's, Image editing, 3d Graphics/Animation, .net Programming, u name it...

OMG! No kidding!?

At my school (high school), we learn C (no, not C++, but C)!!! We are learning to write console (CIR) programs!!! No OOP (object oriented programming) at all... Here's the thing: I know more about programming than my teacher! She literally copies already written programs from her book onto the blackboard and starts to read the explanation from that same book! (Not to mention, she is always 15-20 minutes late for class).

Hello! Reality check! It's the year 2005, and we are still learning technologies that were used in 1990! I respect that, and I know that we must learn the basics of programming, but why do we have to run Borland's Turbo C that is struggling to work on AMD 2000+ (512MB or RAM) machines with Windows XP!? We are going to learn C, Pascal, Basic and ASM in our school, but the programs that will be used for compiling programs are Turbo C, Turbo Pascal and Microsoft's QBASIC! Now, that's old! Because we haven't learned anything from this teacher (I didn't had any problems with this teacher because I already knew C), we requested a new teacher for the next year, and hopefully we will get one because we can't take this no more!

Counter Strike? Quake? Warcraft? No way! The school staff made a Norton Ghost image of the hard disk and they restore it every week! Therefore, installing a program or a game on this PC is not worth it...

[ARNEL]

You're right, when I was in high school I dont even know or visual the computer, I am just using manual typewritten in my school, we don't have computer classes also, that is why when I came in to college, I feel that I am a late bloomer.... that was really annoying. But off course it doens't mean also that you can't learn computer even if you are in late age, as long as you a decied and willing to learn...

I have a daughter now and she's about turning to 4 next september, I you know what... she can draw using powerpoint program I am so very proud because during my time, I started college and yet don't know how to draw ha ha ha.. that was so funny,... I keep on teaching her everything I know in computer as possible because I want her to become succesful someday... as you said,, if you dont know how to used computer at this age... well, you totally disabled....

I think the kids today should learn computer also and include the computer subject as part of their study... we are almost in the computerized world so young should learn how to adopt this kind of world we have right now...

[Jeigh]

C and ASM arn't really out of date... although learning some OO would be helpful in high school for people going on to study comp sci. Its nothing hard but you need to wrap your head around the concept...even though alot of modern C code is really close to being OO anyways, just missing some features

[bureX]

True, but that still doesn't mean that we should use Turbo C instead of Borland's C++ builder (that can also compile C code). If we type our code in Turbo C (windowed mode), the letters appear very slowly, and it is very annoying and difficult to do our work, the situation is better if we switch to full screen mode, but then the resolution drops and the screen refresh rate is 70Hz... Plus, if we want to switch to graphics mode, we have to type a very large portion of code just to draw a line on the screen (in C++ builder, we would just put a button onto a form).

[baffo]

If they would start with this it would be great. In my country we have kinda "class of Information", just in the 1 year (secondary school) where we learn how to use word, power point, excel. But that's nothing new for me. This things I already know and it was a little boring for me to listen and to do this things all over again. It would be better if they'll try to teach us something more interesting, like programming in different languages,...

The main problem why this has not started yet and it doesn't look that it will start soon is money. The technology is developing to fast. If they want to teach us new things that would mean that they have to buy kinda each 2 years new computers, new software, etc.
Ant that's not really cheap. Just for one school that would be about 50.000 €, I guess?
And for whole country?? Each 2 years to spend that much money

But still, if we look from other side, that's not good, because people need to know how to use computers if they want to get a good job in the future.

[lamode]

guess what? i went to my college conference yesterday, thay are using windows me or windows 2000 pro, i dont remember but damn slow, crappy hardware. i think i have AMD 2500 in my secondary school and microsoft windows xp pro. anyway. the course in my college is worth 2 A-levels (basically 2 qualification) and all we going for the course is about learning how to built a computer, understanding mircrosoft windows office and that kind of things, i thought we need to write up programs or some script before i went there, this is really dissapointed me as we still doing microsoft office in college.

[wariorpk]

My school has a horrible budget for everything, but technology especially. Last year they installed Windows 2000 Professional on the computers and the computer teacher acted like she was given a free copy of Photoshop. Thats how horrible our technology is. By the way the computers are around 7-8 years old now.

[bureX]

Windows 2000 professional on those old computers!? I lost my mind when my teachers installed Windows NT on a bunch of old Pentium 1 machines (with RAM memory ranging from 16 to a maximum of 32MB)! Even on the "strongest machine" (233MHz, 32MB ram, 2.5GB HDD), Windows NT is sloooooow! I don't know how they even dared to try out Windows 2000...

Thank God, we don't use these computers anymore, only the new ones, however, some classes are still learning Word 2000 on it!

[iwuvcookies]

My schools techonology is ok. I think they try to upgrade once a year or so. Thre is this new techonology that lets you touch the projector screen like you would on a touch screen computer. Its so cool. But we don't have that at our school. As it cost thousands. I tinkn it depends on the school. My school is a magnet so it has all these computer classes like BCIS and stuff. I guess it depends on city and state budget. I think you should move to some rich disctrict. They'll have updated stuff.

[RazorICE]

Heh, the computers at our school all use Windows NT, it's really stupid. But, well, their capacity makes up for it.

Though they run games like Counter Strike (the old 1999 one) extremely slowly (as in it takes 20mins to make and connect to a server, and if more than 2 people connect at the same time it lags out :-S)

But they upgrade the computers every year, so it's fine.

[youngHUNTER]

Well, when I was in high school I don't even know the actual look of computer because I don't computer subject...

When I was in college I started using computer but found it to hard for me to used, word, excel, paintbrush is very difficult for me. Now I learned how important the computer is, and today, if you don't know computer phased out. he he he.. Lately I realize how important the technology is, so I think children now especially high school student should learn to live in the modern world. "COMPUTER" must be part of there subject...

Anyway, kids now are very smart when it comes to computer, my neighbor having two computers at home for their two kids, the kids about 5 and 8 years of age, they know how to used computers, play counterstrike, warcraft, and many more.. how interesting but they only knew games,,, thats not what the children should learn about computer... not only games but instead, to play and to create the games...

I agreed with you people, computer is part of our lives... :-)

I started to think how to teach my 3 year old daughter to learn computer..

[RazorICE]

I can't imagine how my parents lived through life without computers... I am absoloutely addicted to computers!

[Uncle Bob]

My High School has a couple of Computer Classes, but none are really any help. Computer Graphics and Design is a class in which you use Corel Draw to creat graphics. Digital Art and Design uses Macromedia. and that's about all. A new class has been introduced called independant study in which you can choose absolutly anything you want to do. I chose Web programming and so did a friend. so that's the only way we are able to learn anything usefull with computers. other people in that class chose other things that didn't have anything to do with computers so it isn't really a computer class either.