Computer classes in schools

spannerotoole

I am wondering if they can actually be called computer classes because they teach you basically how to microsoft office (specifically) and not how to use a computer.

With devices such as the raspberry pi at $25, teaching kids how to use computers is now a reality. The benefit to this is that we would have a lot of programmers at school leaving age, instead of a lot of office drones.

I understand the value of teaching office skills, but these should be in a separate class called something like ECDL and not in a computer class.

Your thoughts on this?

Overheal

Its not my country, and I had not a single fcuk for the future of the computer education program. However, it blows. My "....teacher" Was a farmer who reeked of cabbage, struggled his way through notes he read off about boolean logic and circuits. Then he would struggle with any questions which I ended up having to field for the class. At seventeen. He wasn't all that impressed about it either, I had to let him get a win in regularly.

But people need to know these things about PCs:

-Yes, Boolean logic, and basic Circuitry
-Hardware Anatomy (I'm talking about the Front Side Bus, the Northbridge and Southbridge, L2 cache, as well as Hard Drive, RAM, Rasters and everything else). That much alone has helped me diagnose oodles of PC issues. Brief overview of the BIOS.
-Basic troubleshooting. Understanding of Bottlenecks (CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, Graphics, and Internet connectivity). More free Hard Drive space doesn't make your youtube videos load faster. And yes, I've heard that assumption before.
-PC Maintenance basics. Dusting(!), Defragging, Airflow, Registry optimization, even basic virus removal.
-Core concept of what malware is and what security programs can do. *THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING TOLD NOT TO DOWNLOAD VIRUSES, AND DOWNLOADING CRITICAL SYSTEM UPDATES*
-Operating System main features and functions (Search, User settings, Display and Sound Panels, Networking, Adding and removing programs, and [the big one] how to update software. Something people fear doing above all else.)
-Internet Scams 101. Suspicious advertisements, dodgy websites/product offers (finallyfast.com!). Introduction to series of core reputable sites (Cnet, filehippo, etc.) which are in turn chock full of extra information.

I could go on. But seriously, this is the **** I wanted to be taught, and taught myself. ECDL teaches you how to 'drive' a computer. It does nothing to teach you how to own and operate one.

spannerotoole

I know that computer teachers routinely don't know about computers. We had one teacher who called changing the background on a machine as vandalism and the only way he knew how to restore it, was to reinstall the OS. He once gave out to me for open gwbasic in case i was programming a virus, so when i was in school, learning how to use a computer was discouraged. I would like to turn that tide and enable people to really learn how to really use a computer, Do programming, Bash scripting etc...

PrzemoF

<flame war warning>
Overheal, defragging, register optimisation and virus removal is purely M$ related stuff.
</flame war warning>

I'd like to see some generic computer knowlegde like logic, some basic programming (platform intependent), how and why computer works (CPU, memory, bus, basic devices etc.), some info about what can be dangerous on the internet would be good as well.