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- Xref: sparky comp.lang.c:16915 comp.software-eng:4441
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.software-eng
- Path: sparky!uunet!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!news.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!travis
- From: travis@eecs.nwu.edu (Travis Marlatte)
- Subject: Re: Will we keep ignoring this productivity issue?
- Message-ID: <1992Nov20.231536.7286@eecs.nwu.edu>
- Organization: Rauland-Borg Corporation, Skokie IL
- References: <Bxvq7z.DKs@cs.uiuc.edu> <1992Nov19.032216.20549@sserve.cc.adfa.oz.au> <BxyJAF.Js2@cs.uiuc.edu>
- Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 23:15:36 GMT
- Lines: 31
-
- Geoff Miller says that it is possible to teach a skill to a certain level.
- Going beyond "good" requires an innate ability that can't be taught.
- [my paraphrase]
-
- Ralph Johnson replies with:
-
- > I don't think I misunderstood. I disagree.
-
- > Sure, some people that you teach become much better than others.
- > But *everybody* who has skills learned them. *Somebody* taught
- > Miles Davis to improvise, even if that somebody was himself (which
- > it probably was, in part, but he could probably tell you the many
- > people who helped). The claim that the main reason why some people
- > do better than others is because some people are geniuses and other
- > people are not is sheer mysticism. I bet Miles Davis is not a
- > genius on any standardized test. "
-
- I don't think that Geoff was saying that these people were
- intellectual geniuses but that the skills they had went beyond
- a teachable level. And somehow, I think that you agre.
-
- Falling back to "... even if that somebody was himself" is kindof
- weak. Yes, his talents came from an inner strength BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
-
- People do have innate abilities in differing areas. That's what keeps
- life interesting.
-
- --
- Travis Marlatte
- travis@eecs.nwu.edu
- 708-297-0055
-