Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

Zuckerberg and Gates contribute to coding tutorials initiative

(1/2) > >>

kyrathaba:


http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/14/4838628/mark-zuckerberg-bill-gates-contributing-tutorials-to-code-org

After recruiting Will.i.am to help encourage students to explore the world of code, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates are preparing to take a more hands-on approach. As part of their mission with Code.org, the non-profit that aims to make computer courses more prevalent in schools, both influential tech icons will be contributing tutorials to an "Hour of Code" event slated for early December. Set to coincide with Computer Science Education Week, the Hour of Code is an introductory lesson "designed to demystify code and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, an innovator." Microsoft says Gates will also participate in a conference call with students.

Organizers are hoping to reach 10 million students with the effort.
--- End quote ---

Renegade:
Interesting. Not sure what to think. The donors page (http://code.org/about/donors) and having an MS chief counsel on the board... Hmmm...

wraith808:
Everything that MS and Gates do isn't bad... :)  There was an outcry because MS contributed to Ghost, which was complete BS.

Vurbal:
Here in the US we have a rich tradition of robber barons who decide at some point in their life to become someone important in a historical sense and that the best way to do that is public service on a scale only they can accomplish.

Take Andrew Carnegie for example. His steel business was perhaps an order of magnitude worse than Microsoft ever was when it comes to underhanded dealings with everyone from the public to his own employees. But the impact of that pales in comparison to his generous donations to build more than 2,000 public libraries, improve colleges, and even today in funding public television programming. Whatever evil he may have perpetrated during his business career are nothing compared to that.

Based on Gates' philanthropic undertakings over the last few years I think it's clear that's his goal and I say good for him.

Renegade:
Everything that MS and Gates do isn't bad... :)  There was an outcry because MS contributed to Ghost, which was complete BS.
-wraith808 (October 15, 2013, 09:26 AM)
--- End quote ---

Most? :P ;D /jk

Here in the US we have a rich tradition of robber barons who decide at some point in their life to become someone important in a historical sense and that the best way to do that is public service on a scale only they can accomplish.

Take Andrew Carnegie for example. His steel business was perhaps an order of magnitude worse than Microsoft ever was when it comes to underhanded dealings with everyone from the public to his own employees. But the impact of that pales in comparison to his generous donations to build more than 2,000 public libraries, improve colleges, and even today in funding public television programming. Whatever evil he may have perpetrated during his business career are nothing compared to that.
-Vurbal (October 15, 2013, 08:47 PM)
--- End quote ---

Carnegie was also a staunch eugenicist. The Carnegie Foundation was instrumental in bringing about the Council on Foreign Relations. Etc. etc. etc.

Nothing is free. The same kinds of people that you're talking about have continually forced concessions on educational institutions in exchange for their "support".

Prior to the robber barons support of medical schools, there was far greater variety. They essentially restricted medicine to the allopathic school that now dominates. "Competition is a sin." These people were not capitalists by any stretch - they were predatory monopolists.

Based on Gates' philanthropic undertakings over the last few years I think it's clear that's his goal and I say good for him.
-Vurbal (October 15, 2013, 08:47 PM)
--- End quote ---

Leopards changing their spots? I'm not so easily swayed.

For the article, I'm still skeptical. I wonder what the hidden agenda is, because there always is one. e.g. How medical schools were forced to drop non-allopathic methods from their curriculum.

Perhaps I'm paranoid. Can you blame me when the "Department of Defense" is in charge of waging war, "Homeland Security" makes people less secure, "USAID" commits medical attrocities, etc. etc. You can very often accurately determine what an organization actually does by taking the opposite of whatever its name (or mission) is.

It makes me wonder how coding can be perverted through education (or how programming education can be used to pervert people). I can think of a few things, but, that's all just speculation.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page