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From: dsi@unccvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: educational toys that inspired you...
Message-ID: <418@unccvax.unccvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Jan-86 08:56:56 EST
Article-I.D.: unccvax.418
Posted: Sun Jan 12 08:56:56 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jan-86 01:11:26 EST
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Organization: UNC-Charlotte
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> ... play with GI Joe dolls, little army men sets, etc.  In addition,
> my dad (who was a TV repairman with his own business), taught me
> how to fix tv's and let me work with him.  I grew up with the 
> [attitude that there was nothing I could not do ...]
>

     I went the TV repair route, too; but also spent most of my youth
designing and building rather impressive circuitry for one's age. This
would include a pirate AM station and innumerable audio amplifiers. 

     As a practicing electrical engineer today, though, I can state that
my early electronics self-education has both very good and very bad
points.  Learning to build amplifiers creatively rather than analytically
(let's just take the class "A" bipolar case here) serves one's purposes
well when you are 12 or so, but when you do it for a living, it is very
easy to succumb to the temptation to tweak your circuits rather than 
do the correct operating point and stability analyses, etc.

     Permitting one's child to get too specialized at 12 - 14 (such as
building and programming your own pirate AM radio station with 250 watts)
will undoubtedly result in problems later, such as stunted social
skills development.  An obscession with one aspect at an early age can
lead to real misery later on for your child.

     On the other hand, there are very positive benefits for encouraging
exploration of "nontraditional" activities for children.  While I was
learning to be socially stunted, I was also learning invaluable lessons
which serve me well in my career today.  One major and flagrant shortcoming
of electrical engineering education is that there is absolutely zero
emphasis placed on using one's subjective facilities to improve behaviour
as an electrical engineer.  The emphasis is strictly "go no-go" rather
than extremely subtle things which can be observed with the senses God
gave you. Learning proper motor skills and (if your child is a budding
young electrical engineer) how to use and interpret test equipment will
serve your younguns very well in real life.

     Frankly, I don't know how many kids play with electronics hardware
any more...we were the last generation (born in ~1960) to really have
an opportunity to roast one's fingers on a pair of 6L6GT's.  Today's
(at least, from the electronics point of view) technical toys are of
such a high level of sophistication and delicacy that most kids keep out
of the hardware.  This is regrettable. (Note that cars have become the
same way ... I can't find a high school kid today that did weekend rebuilds
like we always did...)

     The opportunity for expanding a child's mind is certainly there...
just introduce these things in moderation, so that your kids don't end
up missing out on some of the other skills which can make life that
much more enjoyable.

David Anthony
DataSpan, Inc