Helping people. (Was: Example of get nVidia)

[Ric Moore]

On Mon, 2008-01-21 at 20:41 -0600, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> Les wrote:
> > Also if Karl doesn't get it, there will be other much more timid folk
> > who also don't get it.  When the answer that Karl understands is added
> > to the archives, more people benefit than Karl.  

If they didn't have to wade through 50 replies in 4-5 threads until the
Eureka! moment arrived. 

> I know this from years
> > of teaching people complex topics in Test Engineering.  I could tell you
> > some good stories about some classes, but those people were also serious
> > about learning.  Better to have helped them than to upset them or tease
> > them.  In turn they helped their friends and their company.  They become
> > better thought of, the company's profit increases, and everyone is a
> > winner.  Not hard, just hard to keep your composure sometimes.  
> > 
> So, what do you do when you have a student that will not read the 
> book, will not do the homework assignments, and argues that he know 
> better then the teacher? That when you try to correct his mistakes, 
> he calls you names?

In a prison workshop class, you get sent back to your dorm until the
next class starts in 3-4 months ...if you're lucky, plus swabbing
toilets during that period at 40 cents a day. The other alternative is
the "Hole". The "Hole" is usually air-conditioned and you get a measure
of privacy, so the former is usually the rule. The major drawback to the
"Hole" is the isolationism and being confined to a 6X8 box 23 hours a
day. Attitudes do get checked though, you betcha.  

Either is not nice. It pays to pay attention and to try hard, in class.
Or, don't go at all. Teaching prison classes is a breeze, when the
student is properly "motivated", just as it is outside the razor wire.
But, the teacher inside has a little more "clout". <eg> Ric

-- 
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My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
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