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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi, Aaron!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My reference to "local schools" was not meant to
imply anything quite so ambitious as storming the CS building.
<s></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My experience has been with the Community Education
programs operated by most area public (and a few private) schools, which
seem always to be looking for something new to offer potential students.
The system is fairly open -- those who wish to teach develop a course
outline and present it to the Community Ed folks at the school. They
determine whether the proposed course could be supported to the level required
by the instructor, and if they have no particular objections they publicize the
proposed course for an upcoming term. These classes are offered to the
general public as well as regularly enrolled elementary, high school and
college students, who receive a discount (up to 100%) on the tuition.
The schools provide the facilities and other support, and the instructor
receives the balance of tuitions after the school's expenses are deducted.
I</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>f the proposed course fails to attract a
sufficient number of students, it is cancelled and nobody's out a
dime.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've seen students as young as third grade in some
of these classes (not mine) and some well into retirement. This is not a
primarily academic group -- the courses are most commonly "personal growth"
related -- but survey/overview math, physics, and other courses are both
welcome and popular. However, the academic *setting* is a benefit, and of
course the fact that students *want* to be in the class is a huge boost.
Best of all is the fact that teaching (anything!) to interested students does
almost as much for the teacher's understanding as for the students'.
Sometimes more . . .</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If your community doesn't already have such a
program, work to encourage it even if you don't plan to teach a class yourself,
but if you're really passionate about Smalltalk, this kind of teaching could
help both the Smalltalk community and your own.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gary Fisher</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=reic0024@d.umn.edu href="mailto:reic0024@d.umn.edu">Aaron J
Reichow</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org
href="mailto:squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org">squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, December 13, 2002 1:02
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Grassroots Smalltalk (was Re:
Funding)</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>On Fri, 13 Dec 2002, Gary Fisher wrote:<BR><BR>> If
I might make a suggestion, it might be worthwhile to investigate
whether<BR>> your local school(s) would support a modest, introductory
Smalltalk course.<BR><BR>Many have often pondered on this, definately a
correlation between a<BR>language being taught in the Universities and the
language being used by<BR>companies.<BR><BR>But it's a lot harder to get a
college CS dept to add a Smalltalk class,<BR>even where there are
sypathizers.<BR><BR>For a couple years, I taught a bunch of middle schoolers
(5-8th grade) how<BR>to use computers. They'd done a little with Logo,
but I really wanted to<BR>do some Squeak, but my plan was foiled by the very
restrictive setup that<BR>many school districts have for their
computers.<BR><BR>(fantasy :mode 'deslusional "<BR><BR>Would it be great if we
could get as many Squeakers as possible to go into<BR>their community and do
some grassroots, guerilla training of the<BR>proletariat in Squeaking?
Perhaps we could storm the corperate and<BR>adecemic worlds, mouse in hand to
replace the pitchfork, and take over!<BR><BR>") ;; s-exps were always more
efficient than XML/SGML. :P<BR><BR>Regards,<BR>Aaron<BR><BR> Aaron
Reichow :: UMD ACM Pres :: <A
href="http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/">http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/</A><BR>"the
only difference it makes if some dust on the clay" ::
atmosphere<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>