Who’d be an IT Teacher?

May 5, 2009 · Posted in Computers and Humour, Education

In my first post (”So are computers funny?) I told you how I would drip-feed my cartoon book Microholics on each post of this blog. And that’s still the plan. But I’ve been thinking how best to do this. Shall I, (a) start at the beginning and work systematically to the end, or (b) cherry-pick, and fill in the gaps like a jigsaw puzzle. (I love mixed metaphors!)

I’ve decided to adopt the latter approach mainly because - well - that’s what I’ve decided. One of the satisfying things about blogging is that you have absolute power when it comes to editorial control. But having said that, and being only human, I would consider, in certain circumstances, relinquishing that control given an appropriate incentive, preferably in the form of a large amount of cash being deposited under my mattress.

So having opted for the random approach: Microholics has a number of sections, one of which is entitled “Education“. Here’s the cartoon I’ve chosen for today’s post.

Teaching computers in the '80s

Yeah. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. As a teacher, that is. And believe me, it’s not funny!

Hey! But look at the equipment. That teacher’s got his head stuck behind an old television set donated to the school by one of the kid’s dads. No ultra-thin high-definition wide-screen monitors in those days, mate.

Today, in the classroom, the hardware is more or less sorted, because in relative terms it’s both cheap and reliable. It’s the software that’s the problem. The teacher isn’t fiddling so much with knobs and cables; he’s trying to figure out how to install the latest upgrade of some wonderful application which has a trillion add-on and never-to-be-used “features”, and which, as it turns out, is incompatible with the hardware. It all boils down to the same thing. The teacher gets less time to teach!

This cartoon has a kind of parallel present-day theme. Since getting this blog together, I too have been hidden behind a computer screen, incarcerated in my study, living a shadowy existence in some distant, twilight blog-filled zone. I think my family have forgotten what I look like.

On which note I’ll leave you with this.

“Being funny is not funny. Humour is seriousness in disguise“. John Glashan

signature