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Originally Posted by Tomkat
How can you explain this to kids though? I mean I teach them how to use Excel from year 7 and it's entirely useless and ****ing dull to them at that age.
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Sitting down and trying to force someone to learn something like Excel is an utterly absurd exercise. If they're not interested - why bother? I find it difficult to believe that many people will learn despite their own willpower. As Nod mentions - not many people retain much of their French/German GCSEs - despite the fact most us spent at least a couple of hours a week for three or four years on the subject.
Technical skills can be difficult to absorb out of context for some though. I know how to use Excel because in some limited circumstances it's the best tool for the job. And the problems I have to solve are real ones with real outcomes. Again, everyone is different (the main reason why we shouldn't force everyone into the same round category) but I find it very difficult to learn things otherwise.
Additionally, kids are right to question how useful something really will be (if that's how it's bieng sold to them). Some of your kids may be ten years from their first proper jobs. The spreadsheet may have experienced dramatic changes by them. Some of them will never have to use Excel-type programs because they'll be persuing career paths which don't require it. For the ones who are really going to be doing IT-heavy jobs, they'll probably have to spend quite a while unlearning how the nonsense and bad practice you'll be putting into their heads because it's convenient (and otherwise, the other 80% of the class won't "get it").