[SATLUG] Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage

Fri Aug 31 07:58:15 CDT 2007

Johnathan Kozol is still going at it.. He's an American legend.  His books
are massively important.
But if we want to bring some more computer stuff back into this
discussion...
Last night I ran into Alank Kay's current educational project--
He's still evangelizing about computing in education.
For those of you that don't know who Alan Kay is .
1.  There would be no object oriented programming without him.  He invented
it.. and in his words (C++ is NOT what he had in mind)
2.  There would be NO laptops without him--- he came up with the concept
more than 20 years before  it was even possible
3.  He  is one of the contributors to the modern GUI

He is a true technology maverick.

His  ideas on technology and education are simply outstanding...
http://www.vpri.org/html/writings.htm

On 8/31/07, Robert Pearson <e2eiod at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 8/25/07, Jennie Haywood <jehaywood at gmail.com> wrote:
> > this is interesting and just points out that we (computer industry
> > workers)  need to launch a fax/email/letter
> > campaign to inform our senators and representatives.  We are being
> > royally screwed.
> >
> >
> > http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.real.html
> >
> > --
> > Jennie Haywood
> > ----
> > Everyone is crazy. It's just a matter of degree.
> > --
> > The oak tree in your backyard is just a nut that held its ground.
> > --
> > _______________________________________________
>
> Thanks for this.
> I have been following this from a different viewpoint.
> The viewpoint that cops use to solve a murder.
> >From that viewpoint your "senators and representatives (of any
> government -- city, county, state, national)" are not your friend.
> They are the agents of the problem.
> Politicians are only human like the rest of us.
> The way I look at it is --- If I was climbing a mountain who would I
> want on the other end of the safety rope? Not a politician. Someone I
> trusted? What if I'm wrong?
>
> The real point of this email is to share some Information.
> "75% OF AMERICAN WORKERS DON'T HAVE DECENT WAGES AND BENEFITS"
> <<http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/decent_wages.htm>>
> Only one point of view but it matches what I have seen and experienced
> over my lifetime.
>
> One possible root cause is:
> "It's Not Easy Being Ultra-Rich"
> <<http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/2007/08/its-not-easy-be.html>>
>
> How the rich live.
> The book is called "Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth
> Boom and the Lives of the New Rich." It's written by Robert Frank.
> It's hysterical.
> You don't want to buy it. But you do need to read some excerpts from a
> review of it in the New York Times Book Review.
> [Article excerpt]
> "Frank also plumbs Richistan's secret status codes. You might have
> thought that a Mercedes SLK or a Rolex were flash possessions. Wrong!
> In Richistan, they are reverse status symbols. The affluent drive
> Mercedes; the rich drive Maybachs (US$367,000).
> <<
> http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/09/cx_dl_06billionaires_0310featslide_19.html?thisSpeed=6000
> >>
>
> Franck Muller hardly advertises their bejeweled watches, which top out
> around $600,000, because they might attract the wrong kind of
> attention. Like yours."
> <<http://www.technologyinvestor.com/login/2004/Jun11-07.php>>
>
> These are "Ugly Americans".
> "The Ugly American is the title of a 1958 political novel by Eugene
> Burdick and William Lederer. It became a bestseller, was influential
> at the time, and is still in print.
> The novel describes how the United States is losing the struggle with
> Communism—what was later to be called the battle for hearts and
> minds—in Southeast Asia, because of arrogance and failure to
> understand the local culture."
>
> The local culture in the USA is us.
>
> Education is another agent of the problem.
> This has been well chronicled for a long time with no effect.
> "Death at an Early Age"
> by Jonathan Kozol (Author), Robert Coles (Preface)
> <<http://www.amazon.com/Death-Early-Age-Jonathan-Kozol/dp/0452262925>>
> [Very good review]
> "If you do not want to consider the injustice of schooling in America,
> not just public schooling, do not read this book. I first read it when
> I was a beginning teacher and "Death at an Early Age" affected my
> entire 32 year teaching career. In the age of "No Child Left Behind,"
> we refuse to realize that school reflects the entire society in which
> we live. The PURPOSE of education is no longer (if it ever was) to
> give every child a fair chance. Education is the first of many sorting
> systems to make sure that nobody escapes the social class into which
> they are born. Because school is competitive, every "concerned parent"
> with the resources to do it makes sure that their own child gets an
> extra edge, even if all children were getting the same education at
> school. If you read this book, it might infect you with the desire to
> make sure that, not only is "No Child Left Behind," but that every
> child really has a fair chance. You might start trying to make sure
> that every child can learn and grow to be the adult he/she could be if
> born to the wealthiest family in America. Teaching under the influence
> of this book could become an endless struggle to address the
> inequities of this world."
>
> Anybody remember Robert Coles?
> "Robert Coles (b. October 12, 1929) is an American author,
> developmental psychologist, and professor at Harvard University. Born
> in Boston, Massachusetts, he attended Harvard, where he originally
> pursued literary interests until persuaded to go into medicine. He
> became a medical doctor in 1954 and moved to the South with plans to
> start a quiet practice as a child psychiatrist. Scenes of racial
> conflict he witnessed there led him to dedicate his efforts to
> documenting how children and their parents deal with profound change.
> His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a
> Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1973 for his series of books
> Children of Crisis. He later co-founded the magazine DoubleTake, a
> high-quality magazine which documented the lives of ordinary people
> with photographs and articles. Coles has written over fifty books and
> writes regular columns for The New Republic, New Oxford Review, and
> American Poetry Review."
> <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Coles>>
>
> [Interesting point of view based on a work of fiction]
> Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman (Author)
> [One review]
> "I first read this book back in the 1960s before I entered the
> teaching profession. I have read it several times since. Having just
> retired from teaching after 34 years, I can say that kids are still
> basically the same as described in this book. They may have laptop
> computers now, but their personalities are the same. We still have the
> teacher pleasers, the lovesick girls, the politicians, the misfits,
> the loners, and all the rest. My mind has gone back to this book many
> times as I encountered situations similar to those that faced Miss
> Barrett. As a matter of fact, as English Department chairman, I often
> quoted her boss, Mr. Bester: Let it be a challenge to you. I recommend
> this book to all who would venture into the exciting and wonderful
> world of the school teacher."
> <<http://www.amazon.com/Up-Down-Staircase-Bel-Kaufman/dp/0060973617>>
>
> Teachers and Administrators are two different animals.
> Administrators are agents of the problem.
> --
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