The Demands of Our Youth
Today at school I spent quite a lot of time making a musical cow project. It's quite cute, really - you click on these cows and they moo in different pitches so that you can play a song that sounds like cows mooing. I was rather pleased with my work (especially with my mediocre cow drawings) and have been having a ton of fun annoying my poor roommates with cow noises of every variety (between the barnyard soundtrack and my musical stylings on the guitar, I am sure they are both on the verge of moving out).
In my last class of the day I introduced Java which my students have eagerly anticipated starting since the beginning of the year. However, now that we've started it all they talk about is how exceedingly boring Java is and how they want to do Java 3D (which is a bit more challenging), Python, Blender... basically anything but Java. I'm realizing more and more that it is ever challenging to keep these kids' attention.
Is it really all that surprising, though? We live in a world where kids (and adults) are constantly bombarded with graphics, exciting web pages, and awesome 3D games. It's no wonder that kids want to be creating the next Sims, Halo or whatever else it is that the youngin's enjoy these days. Since they constantly see these things on TV, online and through various other outlets, they expect a lot more of themselves and of their classes immediately.
What they don't realize, however, is exactly how much work went into the project creation. They don't realize that the people who created Halo worked with potentially hundreds of programming teams to create thousands and thousands of lines of code to make that program possible. They are understandably disappointed when I tell them that 3D RPG games are a little out of the scope of a 7th grade basic programming class.
Still, you've got to admire their aspirations and their ability to dream big. I wish I didn't have to be the bearer of unfortunate news every day. That's right, just call me, "Meghan, Computer Teacher, Crusher of Dreams."
posted by Meghan @ 9:21 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Kids dreams are hard to crush, and my guess is you'll be amazed what seventh graders can do if you even just give them Java. I mean, the things people do Medill classes with Flash amaze me sometimes.
I didn't mean it to sound like I don't believe in my students. I absolutely think they can do amazing work if they put their minds to it, but the group I am working with wants to ride a bike before they can even walk, so to speak. They don't want to learn the Java basics, they want to jump right in to 3D and if you don't know what a class is, or what inheritance means, then you're never going to be able to do Java3D. You can't ride a bike if you can't even walk over to it.
Flash is very cool, and in my opinion significantly easier than Java. Still, the mix of programming and art makes for some very nice programs and web sites.
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