PSS on the high tech road

Our generous Uncle Sam is once again blessing the Commonwealth, this time around by providing desktop computers to some public schools, as reported in yesterday’s Saipan Tribune. Whether or not these computers will be used to train students in, well, how to use computers, is something we’ll have to see when the time comes, I don’t know what the strategy is yet.

But it’s something worth considering even before the fact. Some genius (working for the government, I suspect) will probably lecture the rest of us (who own or manage businesses) that businesses (that’s us) prefer workers who can use computers. I’ll agree with that. And, in general, I think computers are cool.

I own, and use, four of them now, which has left me broke, but at least I can calculate my poverty to the nearest tenth of a cent in real time. I never go anywhere–anywhere–without a computer. Computers are a huge part of my life, and, quite possibly, yours as well.

So I can’t imagine kids not having access to computers at home, though I know that many, in fact, don’t have such access. Money isn’t usually the reason. Priorities are. How many computer-less homes have color televisions and even cable service? See? It’s a matter of priorities.

Anyway, here’s a hypothetical question to ponder: What computer skills should be taught to make students more employable? I’m not asking this because I have an answer, I’m asking it because my pals and I can’t come up with an consensus.

For example, there’s always the Apple (Mac…whatever) vs. IBM feud. I do recall one poor young lady who was trying to get an office job with a client of mine, and it looked like they were going to pretty much make a part time job for her just to be nice, when she announced that she “only uses Apples. My teacher said they’re better.” Hmmm. Tell your teacher to find you a job then, kid, because 95 percent of the business world doesn’t use them. I know a lot of techies who love their Macs, and I’m in favor of anything that gets around Microsoft’s monopoly, but the business world, at least, has placed its bets in the other direction. Maybe Linux will rescue us all some day. I sure hope so.

OK, next…applications. Yeah, yeah, I know, Word and Excel. Both of which are inferior to WordPerfect and Quattro, but, well, if students are going to be trained in the most widely used applications, I guess Word and Excel are the weapons of choice. I use neither, but most of my pals use both. I’ll soon be the last guy in the world who uses WordPerfect, so I guess I’ll just write myself letters in it, and then answer them. I already talk to myself, so this isn’t much of a leap.

Now here’s one that we can have some fun with: Web authoring. I’ll bet a school can hit some home runs with that one. Even in this day and age, it is nigh impossible to find a competent web author who has reasonable rates. That would be a real ticket for some students, though that kind of gig probably requires a home computer, since when you’re binging on a cool project, you can’t just turn off your brain at 4pm and go home and forget it. Furthermore, a responsive web author has to field panicked phone calls from clients at 5:30am, which isn’t a gig that everyone is suited for.

The PSS has a lot of dedicated teachers, and we’re lucky to have them. We’re also lucky to have a generous Uncle Sam who provides so much funding for stuff.

So, I wish the PSS luck on their computer endeavor, and I will now get back to work…writing files in formats that nobody can read anymore…as my Mac pals run circles around me because they haven’t been infected with the latest virus…yes, I truly love computers.

For example, how useful is a computer if you don’t know how to type? Not very useful at all, I fear. The good news is that there are some dandy computer programs that teach typing, which is such a virtuous gig that it’s almost creepy, what with these computers that are teaching us how use computers.

Word processing, job-wise, is probably the reigning biggie.