[K12OSN] Greg reminds us to taste the soup

[Terrell Prude' Jr.]

David D. Nelson wrote:
> What I don't think you may realize is that for you to
> make the comparison to you becoming a teacher you have
> to be teacher full time AND be a systems engineer full
> time. It isn't always about not wanting to learn it is
> about only having 24 hours in a day. I know from
> personal experience. In addition to my full time
> teaching load I had to take a school from the dark
> ages to modern times. My regular work day started at 6
> or 7 in the morning and lasted non-stop until 6 or 7
> in the evening when I took a break and then went back
> and did more work on the servers, workstations,
> network, etc. In the 14 years I did that job I learned
> and used 6 different OSs in different capacities. I
> wasn't afraid to learn but it sure took a ton of time.
>
>   
That's a choice that you made...and it was clearly a noble one.  It's 
one that I myself might make, depending on the situation.  However, that 
doesn't change the fact that you still made the choice to accept the 
technology position...and you clearly made the time to own up to that 
job responsibility and learn the technology.  Far as I'm concerned, you 
rock.

> There is a good chance that the "science teacher"
> really doesn't have the time to spend learning the CLI
> for those infrequently used items. That said, I have
> met science teachers who are superb science teachers
> but who don't have a good handle on how computers
> work. It is not that they can't it is that they have
> absolutely no desire to learn it.
>
>   
I have no problem with a teacher that doesn't have a desire to learn the 
technology.  It's not for everyone, any more than accounting is for me.  
However, anybody who accepts the position of "Technology Coordinator" 
needs to actually learn the technology.  If you can't--or don't want 
to--put in the necessary time, then leave that position open for someone 
else who does (e. g. an actual tech person).  If those teachers just 
don't have the desire to learn it, then why are they accepting the 
technology position instead of leaving it open for an actual tech person 
who actually has technology expertise?  I think that's a fair question 
that goes to the heart of this whole thread.

--TP