Comments embedded.
HJR
--
Oracle Resources : http://www.geocities.com/howardjr2000
========================================
"Roel Toledo" <dontsendmailstome_at_bogusmail.com> wrote in message
news:2KtD7.89850$WW.4948241_at_bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>
> "Howard J. Rogers" <howardjr_at_www.com> wrote in message
> news:3bde4967$0$21541$afc38c87_at_news.optusnet.com.au...
> > Teachers aren't just nice people, but. There is a valid role for
jumping
> up
> > and down on people, if only to teach them that DBAing is not a walk in
the
> > park, and that they must start to think for themselves.
> >
> > I remember a training course where I asked 'what do you think will
happen
> > if...', and one of the students piped up with 'can't you just tell us?'.
> To
> > which the obvious rejoinder was 'of course I can, but one day I won't be
> > there, and you'll need to think things out for yourself'. Actually, I
> > wasn't quite that polite, since I can't stand intellectual laziness like
> > that.
> >
> > Sybrand rarely just yells at newbie posters, but points out that there
are
> > methods and techniques for finding out the answers. That's a valid
> teaching
> > and mentoring exercise. He also then often includes the answer, for
good
> > measure.
> >
> > So, no, nobody can stop a newbie being lazy. But there's validity in
> trying
> > to get a newbie to think and act like an oldbie.
> >
> > Regards
> > HJR
>
> If you work as professional instructor probably in a classroom setup, you
> have a direct responsibility for your student's learning therefore you
maybe
> "licensed" to be impolite if only to teach them that DBAing is not a walk
in
> the park. You are paid to teach the class therefore it is only fair that
> you would be motivated to employ whatever learning methods and techniques
> that you deem necessary.
Crikey! People pay money to have me be impolite to them??? The idea I
like!!! But it's not that really. I have a duty to the students
themselves, and I also have a duty to their employers who are footing the
bill. If I let students off lightly, they might themselves be happy, but
their bosses won't be when they realise Sid still hasn't a clue about
anything, and they've just wasted X thousand dollars for apparently nothing.
That reflects badly on them, and on me.
Likewise, if I'm asked the astoundingly obvious question, I can either make
nice and answer it with a straight face (which gives the poster an answer,
but the bare minimm of 'survival' skills), or I can impress on them that
there is a bigger responsibility -to take control of the database for
yourself. The first approach is a cop-out, in my book. I owe them
something better than that. And I owe myself not to take the easy route.
>
> However in teaching somebody on a newsgroup, do you really have the same
> "license" to be stern or to yell (as you put it) at somebody you profess
to
> teach?
Well, if somebody gets me yelling at them for free, whereas some people get
me yelling at them for megabucks, the freebies are getting a good deal, are
they not?? ;-)
The point is, I don't draw a distinction -except that the medium is
different, and posters here can't see me perform gymnastics on the
whiteboard or stuff up my typing with monotonous regularity. If its good
for the paying customers, surely its good for the non-paying visitors here,
too. Leastways, that's how I see it. The point is, every newbie I see here
reminds me of me, not so very long ago, when all I knew about was Access.
If someone yelled at me for posting the bleedin' obvious, I could either run
away in shame and embarrasment, vowing never to return, or I could determine
that there were some basics I needed to learn first. I reckon the
determined approach is the right one for all DBAs to follow ('cause when the
database crashes, you can't afford to run away!).
>I don't think so. In as much as Sybrand does not have direct
> responsibility over the other poster's learning, his motivation for the
way
> he behaves towards newbies still puzzles me.
>
Look, I won't say that I don't think occasionally that various posters'
attitude is sometimes a little, er...shall we say "abrasive"? Mine too,
frequently. It's a community, after all... and all communities harbour the
bold, the beautiful, the sullen, the brilliant, the dumb and the <insert
adjective of choice here>. And we all have off-days, on-days and in-between
days. Yet we rub along (or should do). We can learn from everyone, even
newbies -who can remind us that that which we think is obvious may not be to
the uninitiated.
But however gruff the exterior, the last thing I want to see is the village
policeman declaring that so-and-so is too sulky/petulant/harsh to be a
community member. That way lies fascism.
Regards
HJR
> Roel
>
>
Received on Tue Oct 30 2001 - 20:03:58 CST
