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Computer Science Education

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Re: Computer Science Education

#41

Post by m0nty »

dotancohen wrote: post #28
m0nty wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks great if you're Indian, Irish or female. Edit: Or AU/NZ, missed that one.

I don't see why this rather insightful post is downvoted. The site specifically targets these groups by name. Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys?

I have no problems with these groups in themselves, I'm of Irish descent so it would be a bit stupid if I did. It does seem like a very limited selection, though: there are hundreds if not thousands of other groups which could be accommodated with their own courses. Where are they?

Re: Computer Science Education

#42

Post by titraprutr »

dotancohen wrote: post #28
m0nty wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks great if you're Indian, Irish or female. Edit: Or AU/NZ, missed that one.

I don't see why this rather insightful post is downvoted. The site specifically targets these groups by name. Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys?

> What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys

Unfortunately, a lot of tech companies these days consider "positive discrimination" as a good thing.

Re: Computer Science Education

#43

Post by denzil_correa »

libeclipse wrote: post #8
wfunction wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue was that people with disabilities across the country (i.e. non-Berkeley-students) were suing* Berkeley for not making their videos accessible. That's why you can't have nice things unfortunately. See here: http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/09/13/a-statement-on-online-co... Lectures up to 2015 are still there though? Do you consider their materials obsolete or something? *Edit: Specifically, the Attorney General…

What? So a lawsuit to allow more people access to knowledge resulted in no one having access to more of it. Damn, that's just.. I'm struggling to refrain from saying a word that'd get me in trouble.

> So a lawsuit to allow more people access to knowledge resulted in no one having access to more of it.

There is a merit in the lawsuit here. This is how discrimination starts. Over a reasonable period of time, the horse has left the barn and then will scramble over quick fix solutions to stem the rot.

Re: Computer Science Education

#44

Post by yummyfajitas »

tdkl wrote: post #27
libeclipse wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? So a lawsuit to allow more people access to knowledge resulted in no one having access to more of it. Damn, that's just.. I'm struggling to refrain from saying a word that'd get me in trouble.

Yes, we live in a time where minorities tyrannize the rest.

Or at least lawyers purporting to represent minorities, who collect 30% of the payout while the minorities get a $20 gift card (or some similar token).

Re: Computer Science Education

#45

Post by lr4444lr »

libeclipse wrote: post #8
wfunction wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue was that people with disabilities across the country (i.e. non-Berkeley-students) were suing* Berkeley for not making their videos accessible. That's why you can't have nice things unfortunately. See here: http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/09/13/a-statement-on-online-co... Lectures up to 2015 are still there though? Do you consider their materials obsolete or something? *Edit: Specifically, the Attorney General…

What? So a lawsuit to allow more people access to knowledge resulted in no one having access to more of it. Damn, that's just.. I'm struggling to refrain from saying a word that'd get me in trouble.

The doctrine of Disparate Impact is way out of control.

Re: Computer Science Education

#46

Post by titraprutr »

hdctambien wrote: post #39
dotancohen wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why this rather insightful post is downvoted. The site specifically targets these groups by name. Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys?

> Why ... are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? Large companies are judged by the diversity of their employees. They want to hire more women. In order to hire more women, there needs to be more qualified women applying for jobs. In order for there to be more qualified women applying for jobs, there needs to be more qualified women. In order for there to be more qualified women we…

> Large companies are judged by the diversity of their employees

And here is the problem - diversity has become a goal rather than a natural consequence of everyone having equal chances.

It's not the lack of diversity that those companies should focus on - much more important is an elimination of any kind of discrimination based on gender/race/religion etc.

Re: Computer Science Education

#47

Post by denzil_correa »

notgood wrote: post #9
lineindc wrote: post #2

Instead of applauding this (oh, they are spreading knowledge), I'm going to point out that they just want cheaper labour.

You know why we create software? To automate things, stuff that before required lot of accountants can be now down with software + one accountant. So we made accounting "cheaper" cutting a lot of jobs; should we stop making software because it makes labor cheaper? should we stop making robots because it makes labor cheaper? Fuck that; if socio-economics has a problem we need to find a solution that doesn't involve st…

The solution clearly isn't to stop making software but the solution also isn't to immediately replace all jobs by a machine. You have people who've worked towards a specialized skillet for most part of their life only to realize that this skill isn't needed anymore. In such situations, we need to come up with mechanisms to help people transition.

Re: Computer Science Education

#48

Post by eru »

matt4077 wrote: post #31
Mayzie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The issue was that people with disabilities across the country (i.e. non-Berkeley-students) were suing Berkeley for not making their videos disabled-friendly. What the f#$k? Suing because their videos are not "disabled-friendly"? What does that even mean? God, the lawsuit trigger-happiness of some people...

> "disabled-friendly"? What does that even mean? I'd say lawsuits such these would be far fewer if people were at least aware of the existence of disabled people, and spend a modicum of attention on how to enable their participation in society. "video" being latin for "to see" may provide a clue as to the type of disability that could have trouble accessing this content. I'm not familiar enough with the subtleties of…

By the way, you don't have to put utilitarianism against disability access.

You just need your utilitarianism to either maximize the the minimum welfare (ie help the least well-off member of society first); or use something like the sum of logarithms of welfares (similar idea).

Re: Computer Science Education

#49

Post by pdyck »

hdctambien wrote: post #39
dotancohen wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why this rather insightful post is downvoted. The site specifically targets these groups by name. Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys?

> Why ... are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? Large companies are judged by the diversity of their employees. They want to hire more women. In order to hire more women, there needs to be more qualified women applying for jobs. In order for there to be more qualified women applying for jobs, there needs to be more qualified women. In order for there to be more qualified women we…

> can sometimes (seem) abrasive and uninviting

Well that's just discriminating against nerds

Re: Computer Science Education

#50

Post by Yizahi »

dotancohen wrote: post #28
m0nty wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks great if you're Indian, Irish or female. Edit: Or AU/NZ, missed that one.

I don't see why this rather insightful post is downvoted. The site specifically targets these groups by name. Why in the age of a _World_ Wide Web and "post-discrimination" are large companies such as Google deliberately targeting specific groups? What will be in the girls-only code program that might be inappropriate for boys?

Pink code highlighting? :)
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