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I'm a single young male, it can easily raise eyebrows if I ever exhibit interest in being around young children. As another commenter mentioned though, maybe as

I'm a single young male, it can easily raise eyebrows if I ever exhibit interest in being around young children. As another commenter mentioned though, maybe as an aspect of my youth, I don't even like children in general to begin with. Second, I have no idea how to teach someone that doesn't really want to learn and teach themselves -- I'll help anyone of any age who comes to me for help or guidance, but anything with groups where only 1/3 of them are paying full attention at any given time isn't for me. I can tell them all to work through Learn Python the Hard Way and help any individuals struggling, but they could just do that at home and get help on the internet or by live-chatting me/anyone else. I could give them all the work to make an LED blink on an embedded system, and a few of them might extend that to something more interesting, but that doesn't sound like something lasting. Lastly, I'm prone to explaining concepts in unconventional ways (as opposed to just repeating the textbook) which doesn't fit very well with a standardized curriculum that I'd need to be certified for to teach anything "serious" in a school setting as opposed to a random volunteer code camp.

kickscondor 11y ago
I really appreciate this comment - you raise a bunch of good points. Your comments about children, though, are a perspective thing on your part - yes, society is very protective of kids and, yes, children are overly self-centered and (basically) insane... But actually - the opposite is also true. In general, communities want men participating in kids' lives. You do have to build a little trust - but IMHO time well spent. And (elementary age) kids are also the best kind of people - usually they're not shouting, yelling and bawling - most of the time they are genuinely lovely people. Now this is a generalization - and it varies from place to place - and my school is only half comprised of lower-income kids - but yeah - kids this age are at an age of wonder and discovery. Teaching is just programming a child's mind. I wish more programmers had an appreciation for that. I would venture to say that computers are MORE stubborn than children. :)

kickscondor 11y ago

I really appreciate this comment - you raise a bunch of good points. Your comments about children, though, are a perspective thing on your part - yes, society is very protective of kids and, yes, children are overly self-centered and (basically) insane... But actually - the opposite is also true. In general, communities want men participating in kids' lives. You do have to build a little trust - but IMHO time well spent. And (elementary age) kids are also the best kind of people - usually they're not shouting, yelling and bawling - most of the time they are genuinely lovely people. Now this is a generalization - and it varies from place to place - and my school is only half comprised of lower-income kids - but yeah - kids this age are at an age of wonder and discovery. Teaching is just programming a child's mind. I wish more programmers had an appreciation for that. I would venture to say that computers are MORE stubborn than children. :)