[CLUE-Talk] Teaching Linux and/or programming to kids

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 11-19 09:18, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> 
> Another thing that might be helpful is to limit his television. Most kids I've
> met will spend all day watching TV if they can -- and few activities are
> compelling enough to drive them away from the TV on their own. I was limited to
> one or two hours a day when I was a kid, and so I spent a lot of time on other
> stuff... not sure I would have spent so much time reading or drawing if I had
> been able to watch as much TV as I wanted. 
> 

<snip>

I couldn't agree more. I read a lot.  I'm ivory certain that's the case
because:

1.  I did not have TV for most of my childhood - from about mid-kindergarten
until the beginning of 8th grade. When we got a TV in 8th grade, it was
because someone gave me a second-hand Atari 2600 console. Living in a very
rural area, we got about 1.5 channels. One was ABC, and the other was a very
snowy PBS. So even then, there wasn't much to choose from, so it usually
wasn't on much except for gaming. 

2. My Dad's side of the family has many avid readers. One of my uncles would
half-joke about my grandfather reading 3 or 4 books at once by laying them
all open side by side and starting from the left going to the right, then
flipping all the pages for each and starting over. This sort of nerdery is
bound to rub off somewhat, especially if you don't have TV.


This sure helped/helps out in learning about things - especially computers,
due to the high amount of concentration needed. TV doesn't really lend
itself to building the ability to concentrate, IMHO. Especially most of
today's programming aimed at children.  


-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at americanisp.net  
http://users.americanisp.net/~seanleblanc/
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