Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard • Hacker News Board

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#91

Post by jzebedee » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 7:37 AM UTC

teej wrote: post #74

pavanred wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The medical clinic I was volunteering at... This is off topic. How can one get into that line of work/volunteering? Any particular organizations? Any particular skills ? How can one get started with this kind of work/volunteering?

What I did was volun-tourism and is generally looked down upon. I did not help anyone. Ghana was not better off for me having gone there. I personally benefitted from it but to pretend that my “volunteering” had an impact is silly. There are lots of volun-tourism groups. They are for white people who want to go to Africa and look like they are making a difference. I can’t help answer your question, just to ask that y…

I appreciate the frank response. This is a topic that I don't usually see addressed.

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#92

Post by y4mi » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 7:42 AM UTC

candiodari wrote: post #87

sova wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and most batteries require electricity. I'm glad you're in the discussion but you can do a lot better than that.

You'd be surprised a) how common solar panels are (and how easy it is to partially repair broken solar panels) b) how simple they are to make if efficiency doesn't matter (optional glas + conductive grid + any black isolator + aluminum foil will result in power delivered between the grid and the aluminum. Paper (even white laser printer paper frankly) will do fine as isolator, also I heard balloon plastic works very…

> c) how long batteries last if you only ever use 5% of their capability

not very long if they're alkaline. And its doubtful anything but their phones got li-on batteries in ghana, the markup probably isn't worth it. And there probably are hardly any phones. so mostly no li-on batteries anywhere.

but i've never been there, just economically speaking.

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#93

Post by grecy » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 7:59 AM UTC

factsaresacred wrote: post #79

teej wrote: post #22

So I’ve been to Kumasi before. Take this with a grain of salt - this was over 10 years ago and I was there on a two week voluntourism trip. Here are some of the reasons it’s hard to use real computers as a part of the ciriculum there. * Electricity. Blackouts and brownouts are a part of life in Ghana, especially Kumasi. On top of that, the quality of the electricity is low. This poses major challenges for computers i…

> I tried to show them the loop button but they did not want it. Ah, the African way. Imagine that 'this is fine' meme as a cultural trait. Or Japan's 'Shikata ga nai' without the corresponding work ethic. West Africa could be so much more prosperous if only they would will their way towards it. There's so much low hanging fruit. This being one example. 30 minutes drawing this everyday, yikes. But that's Africa. Too…

> West Africa could be so much more prosperous if only they would will their way towards it.

I have just spent a year and a half driving through 20 countries in West Africa. [1]

At times I would have agreed with your comments, though lately I have been taking another tact.

The developed world has stress, heart disease, cancer and hundreds of millions of people going to jobs every day they hate with a passion. People have little or no time for family. People have crushing debt. Life expectancy is going down in the USA.

Obviously West Africa is far from perfect, but I think it's very important to realize the Developed World is also far from perfect, and it would be a shame to have West Africa "Develop" into exactly what we have built with all our failings.

Maybe not working 40+ hours a week is OK.

[1] theroadchoseme.com

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#94

Post by sannee » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 8:07 AM UTC

axiom92 wrote: post #80

on_and_off wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did it help in any way ?

I guess it was better than living not knowing that there is such a thing as MS Word.

On the other hand, they paid the opportunity cost of not spending their time learning something that could be actually used to improve their living situation (electrical/mechanical engineering comes to mind).

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#95

Post by hal9000xp » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 8:30 AM UTC

I born in Uzbekistan. My dad bought me russian clone of ZX Spectrum [1] (8-bit, 3.5 MHz CPU, 48K RAM) in 1994. Which I actively used till 2000!

The funny thing is that I didn't look at my lovely ZX Spectrum as sad outdated piece of hardware. Quite opposite, I actually lived in 1980s, it was exciting time with my ZX Spectrum.

Back to education. In 1994, I was kinda troubled 10 years old kid, who completely hated school. Along with ZX Spectrum, my dad bought me a few books for kids about programming on Sinclair BASIC [2].

In a few years, I learned Sinclair BASIC myself without any external help. Around 1998, I discovered fast world of Assembly language. Cool thing is that I had only book about Assembly language but I didn't have Assembly Translator, so I had to use machine code directly [3].

So by 2000, I knew very well my ZX Spectrum. I knew all these secret ROM subroutines, I knew all these optimization tricks like if you put performance critical code in lower addresses, then it run faster. And if you put this code to video memory, it works even faster. So I learned myself how computer works and basics of computer science myself. My dad wasn't engineer. My school was useless in every single aspect of education.

In 2000, when I switched to Windows 98 SE on Pentium 166. In just a few days, I learned myself Windows 98 interface and how to use all basic programs there. It's because I was already exposed to some simple Window-based applications on my ZX Spectrum.

However, I couldn't grasp how to program on Windows 98. I had Delphi. But it looked so bloated and complicated. Unlike ZX Spectrum, I couldn't see full picture. As a sad result, after few failed attempts to program, I abandoned programming for next 7 years.

In 2007, when I finally switched to Knoppix Linux (and then Mandriva Linux), I finally start writing programs in C language. Linux as environment and C as a language were welcoming and friendly to programming!

Conclusion for me: If I were exposed to MS Windows from day one, I most probably wouldn't self-learn programming. ZX Spectrum was very simple and very clear in order to understand basics of computers and programming. ZX Spectrum was a perfect companion in the world of programming and computers for completely uneducated kid without any external guidance. On contrary, MS Windows and these bloated object-oriented programming language with fat IDE are unwelcoming. I highly doubt that average 10 years old uneducated kid without any guidance could grasp full complexity between you and machine. I even doubt kid would even find a way to start programming in the first place! ZX Spectrum had a prompt to programming on very start! Even to load game, you have to run BASIC command [4] (I had only tape recorder, so no TR-DOS [5] till 1999!). After you master ZX Spectrum, it takes just a week to self-learn how to use MS Windows (at least Windows 98).

Talking about computer education for kids in Ghana: I honestly believe they don't need expensive computers to run bloated, expensive and programmer unfriendly MS Windows. They do need modern microcomputers similar to ZX Spectrum. And the country can afford microcomputers. In 1990s, Uzbekistan suffered hyperinflation, average salary was about $5-$10 per month. It's not the end of the world if you clever about using limited resources.

Actually going further, I would say that even in the first world, kids should start using microcomputers in order to self-educate themselves about programming.

Bottom line: CS education could be extremely cheap. Most probably, 99% of world population can afford microcomputers and a couple of old programming books (by the way, I didn't even used original books, it was xerox-copied pages, or sometimes, text was reprinted in matrix-printer!).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_BASIC

[3] http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ZXBasicManual/zxmanchap26.htm...

[4] http://www.retroisle.com/sinclair/zxspectrum/howtouse.php

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TR-DOS

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcomputer

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#96

Post by factsaresacred » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 8:34 AM UTC

grecy wrote: post #93

factsaresacred wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I tried to show them the loop button but they did not want it. Ah, the African way. Imagine that 'this is fine' meme as a cultural trait. Or Japan's 'Shikata ga nai' without the corresponding work ethic. West Africa could be so much more prosperous if only they would will their way towards it. There's so much low hanging fruit. This being one example. 30 minutes drawing this everyday, yikes. But that's Africa. Too…

> West Africa could be so much more prosperous if only they would will their way towards it. I have just spent a year and a half driving through 20 countries in West Africa. [1] At times I would have agreed with your comments, though lately I have been taking another tact. The developed world has stress, heart disease, cancer and hundreds of millions of people going to jobs every day they hate with a passion. People…

I'm with you on the absurdity of the West. The isolation, sterility and atomisation of life in large cities (self service checkouts, lack of street life/physicality, laws wrapped in regulations wrapped in rules) is soul destroying.

But we live until 80, our institutions work, we want for little (materially), and trust is higher. So depends on what you value.

Africa doesn't have to emulate anybody. It can move up the human development index any way it pleases, but, for the sake of its people, it must move up.

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#97

Post by daemoncoder » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 8:44 AM UTC

candiodari wrote: post #87

sova wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and most batteries require electricity. I'm glad you're in the discussion but you can do a lot better than that.

You'd be surprised a) how common solar panels are (and how easy it is to partially repair broken solar panels) b) how simple they are to make if efficiency doesn't matter (optional glas + conductive grid + any black isolator + aluminum foil will result in power delivered between the grid and the aluminum. Paper (even white laser printer paper frankly) will do fine as isolator, also I heard balloon plastic works very…

Do you have any references for (b)?

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#98

Post by Hydraulix989 » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 8:54 AM UTC

shakna wrote: post #83

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most laptops and tablets run off of battery.

This is actually a good point. A friend of mine is from Ghana, and wanted to be a programmer. He had to build a battery bank to power his laptop, so he could do his exams without issue. I helped him design the bank, and another little tool we found helpful. Because power is such an issue, we used a couple Arduinos to build something reminiscent of the TRS-80, 200 [0]. Instead of BASIC though, we inbuilt a C-repl, bas…

So you also built a low power computer much like the kits in the 80s? That's really cool!

Why use C as a starting language?

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#99

Post by jaakl » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:07 AM UTC

I’d take it with a bit sense of humour. If there are not computers, electricity and internet, then how he could know what to draw in detail and how post to Facebook. I bet he used a projector to draw the image in the first place. Which does not mean that they are not in great need of many essentials. My own first Basic programs were written in a paper, from a TV school program back in 1985 or so. It took 5+ years until I got hand on a real computer for the first time. It was USSR, Africa of the times.

Re: Teacher in Ghana has no computers so he draws Microsoft Word on the blackboard

#100

Post by dvfjsdhgfv » Sat, Mar 03, 2018, 9:09 AM UTC

For me the key point is here:

>I've read in news reports that you've received an outpouring of help from foreigners who want to donate computers to your school. Is that actually happening?

> No, they are showing interest but nothing has been brought to the school. We are praying that they are able to organize themselves and present us with computers.

That's how things are today. The so-called "internet community" is extremely good at bad things, such as shaming people, but when it comes to the positive, such as organizing a donation of a single computer to a school in Africa (which definitely has its challenges), nothing gets done.