We are DAMNED until we STEM the TIDE of ignorance

[Don1]

So today we examine misconceptions some Jamaicans have regarding robotics. I've noticed these misconceptions (mis)informing some commentary on the subject in this forum and elsewhere

1. It's ridiculous to spend money on such an obscure subject when Jamaican kids can't read well, speak well, write well or do arithmetic. Let's fix those basic issues first then worry about highfalutin stuff like robotics

WRONG. First..we've been trying to "fix" those things for 50 years... so devoting some paltry resources to robotics won't affect those fixit attempts.. in fact it will ASSIST GREATLY. Why??

Robotics inspires kids to be very curious about manipulating the physical environment.. this demands research i.e. more READING & COMPREHENSION. It needs technical design, documentation and the ability to defend solutions i.e. WRITING & LOGICAL ARGUMENT. It requires an appreciation of gearing, proportions, angles, forces etc.. that's APPLIED MATH & PHYSICS.
Robotics also drives software/mechanical/electrical/electronic engineering skills

All this is accomplished seamlessly in a hands-on, fun & interactive environment that holds kids' attention like nothing else in academia.

If you have the above misconception as I know some do.. juss leggo dat pls


2. It's "too expensive"

WRONG. It's all about priorities... please check your favorite school's sports budget.

Robotics kits suitable for upper school kids run about US$1000... that can serve a team of 20 kids. Lower school Lego kits are much less. They're reusable..so kids can create an infinite number of machines to solve challenges put to them... or wateva dem imagine wid dem wizzy.

Find anedda argument... dis one get whe di duck get

3. It's not "practical"

WRONG. It is 1000% PRACTICAL. Some kids (boys especially) don't learn well sitting in a class reading books about sums, equations etc. It's too boring...and many kids don't see that traditional approach to learning as "practical" as it relates to their everyday life

Robotics allows kids to use their imagination to BUILD things... concepts that were boring in class become exciting in practice

It is the practical nature and modern applications of robotics that can help save our students from mediocrity


4. It's too difficult & technical.

WRONG. JC students whe unnu love cuss got it... til wi all mash up Tri-State level an qualify fi Whirl Championship

Dat should put dat argument to rest


So giving back to Jamaica is all good in all its forms.... from giving out a few balls to poor kids on the roadside... to creating world class STEM models capable of transforming the education sector... So...

Get with the HS ROBOTICS program please... don't be intimidated by my occasionally harsh rhetoric... Or juss check I'man for a kinder, gentler approach.....Woooiiiee mi Tims!!


Selah

D1

[Sir X]

Don 1 , you have a number i can contact you.

kace4life@gmail.com

[Assasin]

part of the problem is everybody have a vision and instead of contributing their little thing them choose fi raid pon a next man parade.

If you can't manage robotics, you left it to the people who know bout it, if you can change the world with a few ball or two note book or even a word of advice then so be it but why you have fi lick down the man robotics??

[Don1]

you have mail

[Don1]

part of the problem is everybody have a vision and instead of contributing their little thing them choose fi raid pon a next man parade.

If you can't manage robotics, you left it to the people who know bout it, if you can change the world with a few ball or two note book or even a word of advice then so be it but why you have fi lick down the man robotics??

I don't really think people mean to "lick down robotics"... I think where that occurs it's more like a jiving thing of a personal nature... suh dat nuh trubble mi

I'm more concerned about relieving the genuine misunderstanding people have about the phenomenal power it has to transform the lives of kids. This is particularly true for our boys at home and abroad who are in absolute crisis.

I was similarly ignorant of the subject before the summer of 2009... but I was curious enuff to investigate the matter and get to the truth

[Islandman]

Talk bout gentler approach, last week me did haffe wild up a breddah, former Morant Bay High alumni like myself, during a Facebook discussion about how to help the school.

He started out with the typical meaningless declarations like :

"The students need to learn more about IT"

OK, some work has been done on that, but more needs to be done. School computer lab got a new server, laptops were donated to library and science dept, etc. Nuff more help needed. How can you help?

"*****CRICKETS*****"

Finally, he responds with "No the computer lab is the wrong way to go, give the students tablets and laptops and let them learn IT. There is a lot of money in IT."

OK, more laptops would not be a bad thing. How can you contribute to this?

******CRICKETS********

At this point I just said you know what, unoo continue with the nonproductive yapping if it makes you feel smart and important. Some of us have real work to do.

I am finding that I have VERY little tolerance for the bag a talk without works these days. Not everybody can do big things but almost everybody can do something. I try to explain that it is not just about money. A career talk at a school or other institution can have a lasting impact on a young person. Doing research on progressive and constructive ideas in education and training and how they may apply to our situations does not take money. It does however take time.

If one does not think helping the institutions that shaped them is either worth their time nor any of their resources then that is a personal choice you can make, but hush up, get out the way and make other people who serious get on with the work.

My rant for the week

[Karl]

Beautifully put!

So today we examine misconceptions some Jamaicans have regarding robotics. I've noticed these misconceptions (mis)informing some commentary on the subject in this forum and elsewhere

1. It's ridiculous to spend money on such an obscure subject when Jamaican kids can't read well, speak well, write well or do arithmetic. Let's fix those basic issues first then worry about highfalutin stuff like robotics

WRONG. First..we've been trying to "fix" those things for 50 years... so devoting some paltry resources to robotics won't affect those fixit attempts.. in fact it will ASSIST GREATLY. Why??

Robotics inspires kids to be very curious about manipulating the physical environment.. this demands research i.e. more READING & COMPREHENSION. It needs technical design, documentation and the ability to defend solutions i.e. WRITING & LOGICAL ARGUMENT. It requires an appreciation of gearing, proportions, angles, forces etc.. that's APPLIED MATH & PHYSICS.
Robotics also drives software/mechanical/electrical/electronic engineering skills

All this is accomplished seamlessly in a hands-on, fun & interactive environment that holds kids' attention like nothing else in academia.

If you have the above misconception as I know some do.. juss leggo dat pls


2. It's "too expensive"

WRONG. It's all about priorities... please check your favorite school's sports budget.

Robotics kits suitable for upper school kids run about US$1000... that can serve a team of 20 kids. Lower school Lego kits are much less. They're reusable..so kids can create an infinite number of machines to solve challenges put to them... or wateva dem imagine wid dem wizzy.

Find anedda argument... dis one get whe di duck get

3. It's not "practical"

WRONG. It is 1000% PRACTICAL. Some kids (boys especially) don't learn well sitting in a class reading books about sums, equations etc. It's too boring...and many kids don't see that traditional approach to learning as "practical" as it relates to their everyday life

Robotics allows kids to use their imagination to BUILD things... concepts that were boring in class become exciting in practice

It is the practical nature and modern applications of robotics that can help save our students from mediocrity


4. It's too difficult & technical.

WRONG. JC students whe unnu love cuss got it... til wi all mash up Tri-State level an qualify fi Whirl Championship

Dat should put dat argument to rest


So giving back to Jamaica is all good in all its forms.... from giving out a few balls to poor kids on the roadside... to creating world class STEM models capable of transforming the education sector... So...

Get with the program please... don't be intimidated by my occasionally harsh rhetoric... Or juss check I'man for a kinder, gentler approach.....Woooiiiee mi Tims!!


Selah

D1

Shall send it on to Alumni Associations of 2 schools on which I have had a recent interaction with Islandman.

Good talk, sah!

[Assasin]

They may not mean to, and they maybe ignorant of robotics and science in general and really have no interest so they should just leave the subject on concentrate on what they can do best. If they educate themselves then they can contribute but to come on a public forum and spew what they have no idea about.

If they feel they can genuinely contribute in other ways, let people do their thing, we have a whole lot of kids to save. Robotics may not save them all so if you don't like it, leave it alone and do your thing. It is not a robotics vs anything else. Robotics is a worthwhile contribution and it involve people's time and donation.

[Assasin]

"I am finding that I have VERY little tolerance for the bag a talk without works these days. Not everybody can do big things but almost everybody can do something. I try to explain that it is not just about money. A career talk at a school or other institution can have a lasting impact on a young person. Doing research on progressive and constructive ideas in education and training and how they may apply to our situations does not take money. It does however take time.

If one does not think helping the institutions that shaped them is either worth their time nor any of their resources then that is a personal choice you can make, but hush up, get out the way and make other people who serious get on with the work. "

AMEN sah, so let it be.

[Islandman]

Last time I visited my high school, the students in the Metal and Wood work shop needed equipment, from $3 safety glasses right up to machines.

Home Economics Dept needed new stoves, fridges, etc.

Head of Maths dept had a need for erasible graph charts , scientific calculators, etc.

Library had far too many books that had been there from my time, old and tattered, some outdated.

Those are just the people I spoke to.

So me really nuh know why so many people act like if them can't build a new school block or sponsor the whole cricket team they can't do anything.

As for the robotics thing, some of it is that the term robotics can be a bit intimidating when you don't understand it in an educational sense. I find myself changing my message a bit these days and talking first about STEM education and then try to explain how exposing youths to robotics can lead them down the path to explore the MANY areas of science and technology.

See we all tek the youth dem go look pon Wigton wind farm yah. This is primarily about renewable energy but so much of the technology is common to various fields of STEM. You get fe touch pon likkle physics, likkle chemistry, likkle bio, likkle maths, etc. So the ting go.

[Don1]

Talk bout gentler approach, last week me did haffe wild up a breddah, former Morant Bay High alumni like myself, during a Facebook discussion about how to help the school.

He started out with the typical meaningless declarations like :

"The students need to learn more about IT"

OK, some work has been done on that, but more needs to be done. School computer lab got a new server, laptops were donated to library and science dept, etc. Nuff more help needed. How can you help?

"*****CRICKETS*****"

Finally, he responds with "No the computer lab is the wrong way to go, give the students tablets and laptops and let them learn IT. There is a lot of money in IT."

OK, more laptops would not be a bad thing. How can you contribute to this?

******CRICKETS********

At this point I just said you know what, unoo continue with the nonproductive yapping if it makes you feel smart and important. Some of us have real work to do.

I am finding that I have VERY little tolerance for the bag a talk without works these days. Not everybody can do big things but almost everybody can do something. I try to explain that it is not just about money. A career talk at a school or other institution can have a lasting impact on a young person. Doing research on progressive and constructive ideas in education and training and how they may apply to our situations does not take money. It does however take time.

If one does not think helping the institutions that shaped them is either worth their time nor any of their resources then that is a personal choice you can make, but hush up, get out the way and make other people who serious get on with the work.

My rant for the week

Jamaicans are World Class Yappers... period.

That's not just anecdotal... I was in the telecom business years ago and was only mildly surprised to see ITU carrier statistics on "average talk time per call"... Jamaica was #2 in the entire WORLD of 200+ countries. The richer or more progressive a country was (based on HDI) ...the less they yapped

Nutten wrang wid YAPPIN...but without DOING it's just the sound of an empty vessel

[Don1]

Shall send it on to Alumni Associations of 2 schools on which I have had a recent interaction with Islandman.

Good talk, sah!

Super!!

Juss tek out di part bout mi Tims pls

[Assasin]

We are great at negative talking. A few years ago I went to HEART Runaway Bay and was talking to some youth and I was touched by one. He said to me "a man like you we need to come talk to us, cause sometimes I feel like going home, sometimes I wonder if it is worth it, and wonder what life holds for me"

I said to him, we had the same feelings while we were here and it shows that sometimes just some positivity can help, instead of talking what everybody else doing and "waiting to win the lotto" to make your minor contributions.

[Don1]

They may not mean to, and they maybe ignorant of robotics and science in general and really have no interest so they should just leave the subject on concentrate on what they can do best. If they educate themselves then they can contribute but to come on a public forum and spew what they have no idea about.

If they feel they can genuinely contribute in other ways, let people do their thing, we have a whole lot of kids to save. Robotics may not save them all so if you don't like it, leave it alone and do your thing. It is not a robotics vs anything else. Robotics is a worthwhile contribution and it involve people's time and donation.

absolutely correct

[Mosiah]

So, given what you said in No. 1, we should see an overall improvement in JC's CAPE and CSEC passes, yes?