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Dont count on it!!
I decided some years ago to have a crack at teaching here in the UK, so I started doing the required courses and exams towards becoming a full time teacher, initially in post 21 and adult education.
As part of one of the courses, I was placed for some "work experience" in one of the local colleges, teaching I.T. and helping adult learners who'd had very little exposure to computers at that point, learn how to use them in a productive means in general life.
Up to this point, it's worth noting, I'd already been in the I.T industry for about 20 years, I already have a BSC with honours in various computing subjects (One of which is digital electronics & robotics), and among the jobs I'd had to that point so far, I'd worked in a "System Admin" role, "Computer Shop Technician" role and "Software Development".
Point here is, I had a very good grasp on a number of different I.T related disciplines AND I was used to dealing with "Non Technical" people (Managers and the general public alike), so my plan was very obviously to go in with the intention of teaching I.T subjects.
When I got to the college I'd been assigned too, I was stuck in front of a class, told NOT to bother creating a lesson plan, and that everything I'd been taught would be thrown out the window.
I had a large A4 binder dumped in front of me, and was clearly told... you start at the beginning, you teach everything the binder tells you to teach, how it tells you to teach it when it tells you to teach it, no exceptions.
One of the learners in my class has severe arthritis in one of her hands, so I came up with a better way for her to hold a mouse that was more comfortable for her, she even commented this was the first time in forever she was able to make use of a computer comfortably, I even made a plastic bracket and modified the mouse slightly... the college management hauled me over the coals for it.
On another occasion, I had an existing teacher interrupt me and correct me repeatedly in front of my class, when I tried to answer questions asked of me, using my own knowledge, this other teacher (who followed the college rules) tried to make out that I had no idea what I was on about.
I was supposed to be placed at this assignment for 6 months, I walked after just 3.
I was talking to a friend who was a secondary school teacher, some weeks later, and he basically said to me, this is not at all uncommon, even in secondary school level, and junior & infant school teachers don't even get picked on subject/skill level, only on class control and instruction following prowess.
and that was that....
I walked away from teaching, and went on to do 5 years in the mobile comms industry as an engineer instead.
That was about 20 years ago now, maybe it's changed since, I don't know but back in the early 2000's, the UK education sector was full of this type of attitude, you DON'T READ, YOU DON'T DEVIATE FROM THE INSTRUCTIONS....
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I've had a different experience in India.
Mine is a similar case, about 20 years in the technology industry, and after that, taught a few semesters in an autonomous institution - three subjects - Medical Imaging, Biomechanics and Dynamics of Machines (I have a Mechanical Engineering background). In two of the cases, I had the freedom to decide the syllabus, in consultation with the Head of the Department, and teach and evaluate the students. I was the person deciding each slide of the PPT presentations, and the seminar topics which the students had to present for 15 minutes each, as part of the assessment. There was a lot of academic freedom in conducting the courses.
Now, I'm leading a retired life (since 2018), and teaching high school mathematics to students near my house, and have full freedom in what problems to teach them, as per the overall guidelines set by the Curriculum committee. Of course I make sure that they are able to answer well in their class and board exams.
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Peter Shaw wrote: the UK education sector was full of this type of attitude, you DON'T READ, YOU DON'T DEVIATE FROM THE INSTRUCTIONS....
Yes but for every person like you there is the teacher that thinks they know what is correct and so teach their way also.
So how the Nazis were in World War One. Yes that was a real teacher. Yes Nazis. Yes 'One' and not 'Two'.
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Yeah, "2001 Space Odessey", "I, Robot" and "Neuromancer" should be banned from all public schools effective immediately. We can't have young children polluting their minds with such extremist nonsense. The very thoughts that a benevolent charismatic rich guy would try to put microchips in people's brains or that robots and AI would try to take over the world is absurd.
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"2001" and "I Robot" were written by highly talented authors. Asimov wrote the latter, and he was a professional astronomer.
Why would you ban such works from being taught?
"HAL" in 2001 was a warning simply to not rely heavily on computerization.
Clarke was correct.
Look at our world today...
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
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Steve Naidamast wrote: Why would you ban such works from being taught?
I am going to guess that Shawn was being sarcastic?
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Could be.
I just didn't read it that way but I could have misunderstood the nature of his comment...
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
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I completely agree...
However, I really don't care what most Humans think. I have a large library of military history and technology books. And it is still expanding and I try to do some reading just about everyday, in addition to my research into current world events.
I spent a large part of my career as a software engineer fighting against stupid, arrogant technical management.
And when I had the opportunities to enter their ranks, I refused.
After 43+ years in the career I retired but am still at it doing database development, learning game design and Game AI. And I have decided to ignore most of the new fads and hype around all the new technologies being released. Most of it is junk anyway.
Look at the complete gibberish that Microsoft has turned ASP.NET Core into. We were doing basically the same things with WebForms but then the "purists" got involved. Now Microsoft web development is a complete mess. Eve professionals here at The Code project have been complaining about this for several years now.
The moment our best professionals start to listen to what other "stupid" people say or think, our profession will be finished. The problem is, it already looks as if it is...
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
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Keen observation... something I cannot un-read now that I've read it.
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raddevus wrote: Then you'll argue and say, "but, Ive read 4 books on the subject"
Couldn't I just lie and say instead that I have watched 4 youtube videos?
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Eloquent, imaginative ... a train of thought with all the logic in the loose caboose. !
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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raddevus wrote: And since the minority is aka "The Fringe" your ideas will be considered garbage.
Like Fringe (TV Series) (2008) - FilmAffinity[^]? (Very interesting serie the first 2 seasons... afterwards it started to go a bit over the fence)
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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And don’t forget the proven maxim:
Underperformers always over estimate their ability.
Overperformers always under estimate their ability.
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One hundred - C (Roman numeral)
or no piles - as is
arranged - anagram of the above: NECROPOLIS : where the dead rest
So I guess I'm up again tomorrow.
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Afraid so - I would have taken it, but Herself needed help and I missed the four hour window.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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No problem, and family first always.
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Good clue Richard and you are sort of Welsh 
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Croeso
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: or no piles - as is
Can't figure out this part...
Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
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Sorry, lazy English. It just means take the words "or no piles" as they are written. So combining those with the C (for a hundred), and (re)arranging them all gets the answer.
Makes sense?
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Yes, got it... thanks 
Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
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Been trying to find this "bug" for 3+ years. It lives in a critical piece of code for a specific oem. One of the first rules of debugging is to determine if you can repeat the behavior, etc. It's very easy to go off shotgunning, etc. so step 1 is to answer, "What changed?"
What works (we're going back to 2009): WinCE 5.0, EVC++, embedded IE browser in CE 5.0, activeX controls, javascript and vbscript.
What changed: OS to WEC7, VS2008, a new half baked embedded IE browser in WEC7, minor edits to the code to make it happy with VS2008, and new hardware.
Beginning to see the problem?  what could go wrong? So, just about everything changed except the application. Where my bug lurks.
So, last week I was taking another stab at obtaining data as to the problem (the oem supplied web page doesn't run, the activeX controls don't behave). Started up the debugger, application hung - same behavior as before. Shut it down, added some logging messages, started it up and the damn thing worked. First time I had seen this, and we're now into divine intervention mode. Yeah, I know, you can call it blind luck.
I have an initialization problem.
In about an hour, I tracked down the "bug" to lack of initialization of a pointer in an activeX control. EVC++ and CE 5.0 had no issue with the code and always behaved. WEC7 had trash in the pointer (why we initialize things). It was a 15 year old cut/paste oversight.
Yeah me. Learning points: get a lint tool and use it. Going back to 2005, running mfc applications caused lint tools to explode with complaints, so we never got serious about it. Going to have to dust the issue off.
Here's the missing line of code: "m_pMainAppHandle = NULL;"
Sometimes I love my job, sometimes I want to cry. Just get in the habit of watching for uninitialized member variables. Simple issues like this are caught by source code tools, but this is something that should always be done.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
modified 28-Jun-23 10:34am.
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Erm ... are you sure?
m_pMainAppHandle == NULL; Is a comparison, it shouldn't change a thing ... if it does, there is something really nasty going on your code!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Oops, corrected.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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