From: smirzo@example.com   
      
   D  writes:   
      
   > On Sun, 23 Feb 2025, Salvador Mirzo wrote:   
   >   
   >>> This is very interesting! What was it that the student thought was crazy   
   >>> complicated compared with git?   
   >>   
   >> Not compared to git.  They did not get to see git.  They just hated   
   >> fossil to the point of almost giving up on the whole course altogether.   
   >> Very likely they knew that other courses would give them the same   
   >> credits and they could try it afresh on the next semester.   
   >   
   > Ahh, got it! Yes, sadly this happens to me as well. At the slightest hint of   
   > difficulty or effort, about 20% of the class riots, complains to the school   
   that   
   > the teacher is evil, that the difficulty level should be lowered etc. They do   
   > not realize, that the only ones they are cheating by doing that are   
   themselves.   
   > The sad thing is that business owners (including myself) have noted a   
   dramatic   
   > drop in skill from graduates over the past 3-4 years. One reason is that the   
   > government has changed the funding of the schools, rewarding schools that   
   pass   
   > all students. So of course, the schools pass all students, since it means   
   more   
   > money for them (they are paid by the government upon graduation) and you get   
   the   
   > situation where awful students graduate, and now, where companies no longer   
   hire   
   > them.   
   >   
   > Usually in order to buck the trend somewhat, I make my first course more   
   > difficult in order to get rid of the unmotivated ones. If I don't have the   
   first   
   > course of the semester, the following 1-2 are pure hell, since the bad ones   
   > remain and complain about everything, but after 1-2 semesters they usually   
   quit.   
   > It is just sad that I could not make them realize this after 3 weeks, and   
   > instead they waste 1-2 semesters. But such is life.   
      
   Such is life. :)   
      
   >>> I have taught classes with git (basics) and at the end of the day,   
   >>> regardless of if you use git or fossil, it just requires a few simple   
   >>> commands to get started at the basic level (we were not discussing   
   >>> rebasing and huge software projects).   
   >>   
   >> I think it boils down to a lot more because these are compouter users   
   >> that even ``environment variable'' is a never-seen concept.  I watched   
   >> them opening a c:\> prompt on their Windows system, slowlying typing up   
   >> their very long path to their project, say, and then doing it again on   
   >> the next class---paths with spaces and other complicated symbols.   
   >   
   > Haha, yes... I think I have to tell them about ls, cd, pwd etc. about 30-40   
   > times before they finally start to remember what it is. ;)   
      
   Oh, yes, memory is another thing I notice.  Not only students, but   
   teachers, too; I'm known as having a superb memory or something.  Truth   
   is, though, it's their memory that is not doing very well.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)