Sunday, June 14, 2015

The Cookbook Approach to Data Management




15 years ago I posted The Myth of Market Based Education @the old dbdebunk.com. Last week I deplored the substitution of tool training for education and increasingly young age at which it substitutes for education, preventing any independent and critical thinking rather than instilling it:
... a systemic problem that perpetuates itself without a solution and worsens rather than improves, particularly with Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft getting involved in the school and academic systems.
Shortly thereafter
...the San Francisco School Board unanimously voted Tuesday to ensure every student in the district gets a computer science education, with coursework offered in every grade from preschool through high school, a first for a public school district. Tech companies, including Salesforce.com, as well as foundations and community groups, are expected to pitch in funding and other technical support to create the new coursework, equip schools and train staff to teach it.
Basic computer literacy, perhaps, but computer science for pre-schoolers? Tech companies have a unique notion of the "science"--witness "data science"--they want to impart to young children. This week's quote is a description of it by one of my readers as experienced by his son:

1. Quote of the Week

My son, who is a sophomore in high school, had a class in Microsoft Excel and Access this semester. This "class" was created and delivered online, in the classroom, by Microsoft for the school systems. His "instructor" is a baseball coach. Anyway, he asked me for some help with a portion of the Access module on queries. The "lesson," a set of step by step instructions with no explanations, instructs the student to use the "find duplicates" query wizard. Directly following that was the "find unmatched" (meaning in their terms rows in one table that should also be in another table but are not) query wizard. This is yet another example proving your point.
I rest my case. 

2. To Laugh or Cry?
Small Data - Too many relationships spoil the model...
3. Online Debunkings
Something doesn't make sense
4. Interesting Elsewhere
How to interview an Oracle DBA candidate (NOT)
5. And now for something completely different

Obaminations
Obama admits US lacks 'complete strategy' in Iraq
Hhhmm, the strategy seems pretty clear:


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