5 ms·

We'd just put a batch file attached to autoexec on our school computers which prompted with Cannot read C:\ Abort, Retry, Fail?, and then we made batch files fo

We'd just put a batch file attached to autoexec on our school computers which prompted with Cannot read C:\ Abort, Retry, Fail?, and then we made batch files for A, R, and F which just printed "Error" or something similar. It was pretty awesome watching the "computer expert" claim the harddrives had died and needed to be replaced.

illumin8 16y ago
I did something similar - I had TSR programs written for DOS that "simulated" viruses. They simulated viruses like Cascade (where all of the characters on your screen would fall to the bottom and lie in a pile every few minutes) but didn't actually replicate. I put this in the autoexec.bat file on every computer in the lab during my Pascal programming class. The next class was a word processing class. Apparently the FBI was called to investigate when the computer teacher couldn't figure out that it wasn't a real virus. I wasn't really punished because I hadn't done any damage, but my parents got called. As usual, someone with limited computer skills that can't get a better job somewhere else, ends up teaching computers for slightly more than minimum wage. We used to have a lot of fun on the Novell network as well when the IT guy (think comic book guy from the Simpsons in real life) would walk away from his desk and leave it logged in. We would give ourselves admin and wreak havoc for a few hours until he noticed there was more than one superuser.
- thaumaturgy 16y ago
  > As usual, someone with limited computer skills that can't get a better job somewhere else, ends up teaching computers for slightly more than minimum wage. Statements like this make me rage a bit; students have to put up with non-technical teachers in part because precious few people in the high-tech sector can be moved to do teaching work in their community. It's as much our fault as anyone else's.
  - nowarninglabel 16y ago
    As a counterpoint, I had a teacher with limited computer skills who taught 'keyboarding' in middle school. Given that I was already at 80wpm, he decided to let me use the school's brand new computer lab next door during class hours, as long as I reported back with what use I put the computers too. So, not all non-technical teachers teaching computer classes are bad.
  - illumin8 16y ago
    Fair enough, but the comment is not meant to denigrate the teacher. I would much rather see a system that paid teachers appropriate salaries for their skill sets so that they could get qualified educators instead of the least common denominator. Why should qualified high-tech people work for substandard salaries? You can say out of the goodness of our hearts, but if the service they provide is valuable enough, and I think it is, they should be compensated appropriately.
    - thaumaturgy 16y ago
      Clifford Stoll has explained this far better than I could [1], but aside from the sheer intrinsic value and altruism of taking time out to be an amazing teacher for some students, it can also serve some really practical benefits: if you want the next generation of adults to have a firm grasp of science and technical issues -- whether they later operate a cash register, enter a career in politics, or build the next Amazon -- then it makes sense for us to find the time to teach these skills to students. If you want open source software to take over the world, teach programming to kids. If you want sensible social policies where science and technology are concerned, then teach science and technology to kids. If you want more rational discourse in the future, then teach logic to kids. Saying, "this is somebody else's job" -- even if you're also saying that it's a valuable job and they should be compensated well for it -- is not just self-serving, it's short-sighted. [1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8IA6xOpSk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8IA6xOpSk
      - Retric 16y ago
        <evil>I don't care about future generations, if you want me to teach you need to pay me real money to do so.</evil> Clearly there are people willing to significantly sacrifice their family's financial future for the good of the community. However, there are not enough such people. Thus paying more money allows you to pull in talented people who don't feel the need to sacrifice for their community. PS: You don't actually need to pay market rates. You just need to reduce the sacrifice enough to attract talented people. EX: I would be willing to take a small paycut to do scientific research, but I am unwilling to take the massive paycut it would take to do so.
  - jseliger 16y ago
    Statements like this make me rage a bit; students have to put up with non-technical teachers in part because precious few people in the high-tech sector can be moved to do teaching work in their community. That's because a) there's no reward for excellence or penalty for failure in teaching (see the list of articles I compiled here: http://jseliger.com/2009/11/12/susan-engel-doesnt-get/ http://jseliger.com/2009/11/12/susan-engel-doesnt-get/ for more on that subject) and b) standardized contracts mean that high-tech people who want to teach aren't going to be subtly underpaid -- they're going to be vastly underpaid. Notice the data from Payscale.com here: http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp . I actually thought about being a high school teacher. In Seattle, where I lived, teachers with an M.A. made ~$36K / year and got lockstep pay raises to the point where they'd make around $65K / year after 30 years. You get summer and winter break off, so you can effectively multiply that by 1.2. Google, Microsoft, and other big tech companies start superstars in the neighborhood of $75 – $100K and go up from there. The possibility of starting your own company is there. That's why competent technical people seldom work in schools. It isn't "our fault" so much as it is the fault of some combination of voters, teachers' unions, and school districts.
waynecolvin 16y ago
It's not the same as this story but I gamed Algebra II in in high school. It was last class of the day, the teacher was a track coach and most of us were in sports. Since time was short near the end of the year we all got permission to work at our own pace... As a C+ student in Algebra I quickly did the minimum on assignments in order to take more tests more often working far past in the book than we would have reached. I turned in crap of course but the total extra credit added up real good! ;) The teacher knew what I was pulling and even had to specify certain minimums, but went along with it nicely. (Other than never telling me just how high my grade finally was. Probably ~105%.)

illumin8 16y ago

I did something similar - I had TSR programs written for DOS that "simulated" viruses. They simulated viruses like Cascade (where all of the characters on your screen would fall to the bottom and lie in a pile every few minutes) but didn't actually replicate. I put this in the autoexec.bat file on every computer in the lab during my Pascal programming class. The next class was a word processing class. Apparently the FBI was called to investigate when the computer teacher couldn't figure out that it wasn't a real virus. I wasn't really punished because I hadn't done any damage, but my parents got called. As usual, someone with limited computer skills that can't get a better job somewhere else, ends up teaching computers for slightly more than minimum wage. We used to have a lot of fun on the Novell network as well when the IT guy (think comic book guy from the Simpsons in real life) would walk away from his desk and leave it logged in. We would give ourselves admin and wreak havoc for a few hours until he noticed there was more than one superuser.

thaumaturgy 16y ago
> As usual, someone with limited computer skills that can't get a better job somewhere else, ends up teaching computers for slightly more than minimum wage. Statements like this make me rage a bit; students have to put up with non-technical teachers in part because precious few people in the high-tech sector can be moved to do teaching work in their community. It's as much our fault as anyone else's.
- nowarninglabel 16y ago
  As a counterpoint, I had a teacher with limited computer skills who taught 'keyboarding' in middle school. Given that I was already at 80wpm, he decided to let me use the school's brand new computer lab next door during class hours, as long as I reported back with what use I put the computers too. So, not all non-technical teachers teaching computer classes are bad.
- illumin8 16y ago
  Fair enough, but the comment is not meant to denigrate the teacher. I would much rather see a system that paid teachers appropriate salaries for their skill sets so that they could get qualified educators instead of the least common denominator. Why should qualified high-tech people work for substandard salaries? You can say out of the goodness of our hearts, but if the service they provide is valuable enough, and I think it is, they should be compensated appropriately.
  - thaumaturgy 16y ago
    Clifford Stoll has explained this far better than I could [1], but aside from the sheer intrinsic value and altruism of taking time out to be an amazing teacher for some students, it can also serve some really practical benefits: if you want the next generation of adults to have a firm grasp of science and technical issues -- whether they later operate a cash register, enter a career in politics, or build the next Amazon -- then it makes sense for us to find the time to teach these skills to students. If you want open source software to take over the world, teach programming to kids. If you want sensible social policies where science and technology are concerned, then teach science and technology to kids. If you want more rational discourse in the future, then teach logic to kids. Saying, "this is somebody else's job" -- even if you're also saying that it's a valuable job and they should be compensated well for it -- is not just self-serving, it's short-sighted. [1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8IA6xOpSk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8IA6xOpSk
    - Retric 16y ago
      <evil>I don't care about future generations, if you want me to teach you need to pay me real money to do so.</evil> Clearly there are people willing to significantly sacrifice their family's financial future for the good of the community. However, there are not enough such people. Thus paying more money allows you to pull in talented people who don't feel the need to sacrifice for their community. PS: You don't actually need to pay market rates. You just need to reduce the sacrifice enough to attract talented people. EX: I would be willing to take a small paycut to do scientific research, but I am unwilling to take the massive paycut it would take to do so.
- jseliger 16y ago
  Statements like this make me rage a bit; students have to put up with non-technical teachers in part because precious few people in the high-tech sector can be moved to do teaching work in their community. That's because a) there's no reward for excellence or penalty for failure in teaching (see the list of articles I compiled here: http://jseliger.com/2009/11/12/susan-engel-doesnt-get/ http://jseliger.com/2009/11/12/susan-engel-doesnt-get/ for more on that subject) and b) standardized contracts mean that high-tech people who want to teach aren't going to be subtly underpaid -- they're going to be vastly underpaid. Notice the data from Payscale.com here: http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp . I actually thought about being a high school teacher. In Seattle, where I lived, teachers with an M.A. made ~$36K / year and got lockstep pay raises to the point where they'd make around $65K / year after 30 years. You get summer and winter break off, so you can effectively multiply that by 1.2. Google, Microsoft, and other big tech companies start superstars in the neighborhood of $75 – $100K and go up from there. The possibility of starting your own company is there. That's why competent technical people seldom work in schools. It isn't "our fault" so much as it is the fault of some combination of voters, teachers' unions, and school districts.

waynecolvin 16y ago

It's not the same as this story but I gamed Algebra II in in high school. It was last class of the day, the teacher was a track coach and most of us were in sports. Since time was short near the end of the year we all got permission to work at our own pace... As a C+ student in Algebra I quickly did the minimum on assignments in order to take more tests more often working far past in the book than we would have reached. I turned in crap of course but the total extra credit added up real good! ;) The teacher knew what I was pulling and even had to specify certain minimums, but went along with it nicely. (Other than never telling me just how high my grade finally was. Probably ~105%.)