FW: Adobe CEO interview

[Peter Gold]

Marcus Carr wrote:
 >
 > That said though, there is truth to what you say - the real 
question is
 > whether it matters. In my parent's day, neat cursive 
handwriting was
 > very important. It was arguably less important in my day 
and for my
 > daughter, it will be of little importance, as in her life, 
she will
 > unquestionably use a keyboard or some other device far more 
than she
 > ever writes with a ballpoint. The same is true of 
mathematics - you can
 > do complex calculation on your phone now, so it's not 
critical that you
 > understand logarithmic tables and the like. I don't think 
that it's
 > better or worse, just different.

If legible cursive writing was the sole measurement of 
ability, I'd be in the same boat as many doctors - floating 
off to oblivion.

However, I'd qualify Marcus' comment about using one's phone 
for complex calculations. If you don't have the knowledge to 
derive a statement of a need for calculating a solution by 
using observation, experience, and analytic thinking, and lack 
the knowledge to present the problem statement to the 
calculating device, then, unless the device itself has the 
intelligence to do it for you, and is willing to do it (think 
"I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that") it's whether it's the 
original calculus (stones used as counters), abaci, or 
iPhones, it's useless.

My mother's criticism of the multiplication table matrix 
printed on the back cover of my grade-school composition books 
was, "You'll never learn to multiply by yourself, if you can 
just look it up!"

Interestingly, on "60 Minutes" today, there was a segment on 
Nicholas Negroponte's "One Laptop Per Child" project.

"MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte's dream is to put a laptop 
computer into the hands of every child. Lesley Stahl reports 
on his progress in Cambodia and Brazil."

In those countries, government subsidies bring the cost of 
these computers down to $100. When they become available in 
the U. S., they'll cost $200, because for each one you buy, 
one is given to a child in a country where they're really needed.

The video's available at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2830221n

One of the sequences bore out the premise that even young kids 
can figure a lot of this (learning to use the computers to 
write, look for information and learning to use it) out for 
themselves, and help others to do it.

________________
Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices