Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 22:45:37 -0500 From: Eric Rivas <rivas45@sprintmail.com> To: Rob <europax@home.com> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: How do you get kids interested in computers- other than playing games? Message-ID: <20010312224538.4c42e2c3.rivas45@sprintmail.com> In-Reply-To: <3AAD626B.CC372925@home.com> References: <3AAD626B.CC372925@home.com>
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On Mon, 12 Mar 2001 15:57:31 -0800 Rob <europax@home.com> wrote: > My nephew spends just about every waking moment (other than school) in > front of the > computer playing games. So this Christmas I thought I'd expand his > horizons by buying > him a new Imac with SuSE Linux preinstalled by me. > > I showed him how to use the man pages and other documentation, and tried > to explain to him > why such a computer might be more interesting than a Windoze box. Well, > he was pretty much > flabbergasted and confused by this new computer (try accomplishing that > with a teenager). He > had no idea what to do with it, despite my attempts to explain how cool > it might be to do > some hacking and programming on it. To that end I showed him Python, > and how easy it was to make > programs. > > The computer has just sat unused for weeks. > > Did I screw up? Are children so used to being spoon-fed information > that they no longer have > the interest in independent investigation? This is a bright kid who > claimed to have an > interest in computers. How old is your nephew? I'm 16 and I PREFER to code and play around with my FreeBSD box rather than playing games. Many times my friends have told me about some hot new game, so naturally I get it. I then tend to play for a week then thrown it on the shelf and return to playing around with code. If your nephew is really interested into computer, maybe a little slower start and a little more helping might get him started. But then again, I know some people who say they are into computers but just for playing games. Keep trying, I know I would have liked someone around when I was young (I really got into computers on my own). > > Oh, well thanks for listening to my rant. Maybe it will just take some > time. Rob. > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message -- Eric J. Rivas, KC2HMV To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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