[Slightly OT] Philosophy (was Re: Replacement for Abiword: LyX? Openoffice?)

On Tue, 2003-10-21 at 12:16, Firinel Taranen wrote:
>  --- Michelle Konzack <[email protected]>
> wrote: > Am 2003-10-21 10:54:01, schrieb Ben
> Armstrong:
[snip]
> And what about prior to 6 years old? Our daughter has
> been running Debian Jr on her own computer since she
> was nearly 4. I expect her to be capable of running
> more "adult" systems by the time she's 10, truth be
> told. My husband first began programming when he was
> 7, afterall. I'd be very happy to see Debian Jr.
> targetted at an age group more inclusive of younger
> children.
> 
> Is there anyone on the list who, aside from
> programming , is also versed at all in child
> development and what is age appropiate?

Why expose children to computers at such a young age?  Shouldn't
they be running and jumping, playing with toys, coloring, cutting,
riding bike/scooter, etc, instead?

Yes, I have 2 young children: boy aged 5.67, girl aged 4.25, and
yes, I am a database administrator (after being a programmer for
many years), and I've been very successful at it, while not having
been exposed to computers until 12th grade.  (Although I could have
used WordStar to type book reports & term papers.)

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. [email protected]
Jefferson, LA USA

After seeing all the viruses, trojan horses, worms and Reply
mails from stupidly-configured anti-virus software that's been
hurled upon the internet for the last 3 years, and the time/money
that is spent protecting against said viruses, trojan horses &
worms, I can only conclude that Microsoft is dangerous to the
internet and American commerce, and it's software should be
banned.