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That's how the classes are set up, and that's how MS want them set up...

If you teach them properly, then they will be more inquisitive and more adaptable... While one of the biggest things keeping MS marketshare up, is users who are afraid of even the slightest differences because they haven't been taught properly.

That's how the classes are set up, and that's how MS want them set up...

If you teach them properly, then they will be more inquisitive and more adaptable... While one of the biggest things keeping MS marketshare up, is users who are afraid of even the slightest differences because they haven't been taught properly. "

You can't just blame everything on Microsoft or Apple, all they did was make computing easier for the masses. It's the governments and school boards that are responsible for the decrease in the effectiveness of the computing syllabus. All Microsoft or Apple have done is license their software for use in the education environment. The current situation would have happened even if they were using a linux distro such as Edubuntu

When topics like this pop up, I always end up talking about my memories of "computer" classes back in the days (non-US). We were always taught languages and programming (I was in math/sci/cs-majoring classes between ages 12-18), and getting to know applications, OS perks, etc. were only a side effect. E.g. my very first "official" computer class (I think I was ~12 years old) was about learning basic (then pascal, then c, then c++ by then I was ~15), and that process involved learning to use the computer, then algorithms, later including architecture, peripherals, apps, etc.

Granted, bottom-up approaches won't work for everyone, but all things considered, I still think it's the better approach, of course depending on the age of the pupil/student.

What and how they teach these days is a lot of people's fault, including schools who hire cs-teachers who are very sub-par regarding required knowledge, which doesn't always get noticed, since those who hire them also think computer=ie+word+outlook. And even then, I know from the experiences with my younger sister, she had a lot of generic computer-using classes, but still, I had to show and teach her a lot of things which would've been required for basic computer use but which were not even remotely covered in class.

And let me - and forgive me for it - steam out my overall frustration with idiot teachers whose main purpose is to just spend their class-hours somehow and don't give a rat's ass about the usefulness of what they do or do not teach the kids during that time.

The biggest contributing factor to this state of affairs - teachers don't know how to run computers. They are teachers, not technicians. And man, imagine what kind of disruption it would cause if the computer broke, or got a virus! Teachers already have enough to deal with with all the increased emphasis on state tests and the like, you want them to maintain a computer (or bunch of computers) that students can get in there and mess with?

Maybe with more of an emphasis on increasing effectiveness of public schools (and funding it in more appropriate ways) and less on cutting teaching roles and salaries - and other forms of irresponsible austerity. There is nothing in the current state of affairs that leads me to believe there is any chance of getting better technical instruction in public schools. America (in particular) is far down the wrong path, moving in the wrong direction.