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Computer Development - A Curriculum

Around 1978-79 microcomputers made their debut. Actually, the term microcomputer was a misnomer because they were really microprocessors. Most had 16K (1K=1024 bytes; 1 byte = 1 character) of memory. Remember the TRS-80's, Commador and Atari systems?

Wayne purchased a TRS-80 system and tape backup so that students could learn how to program in Basic - a computer language developed at Dartmouth University . He also purchased some other software for writing and later, database development.

As time went by Wayne eventually invested in another disk based computer system called the Model II. It was classified as a business system because of its processor - a Motorola based chip - and the storage - 500K. That was a big deal back them. Later the hard disk made it debut and along came the unix¹ operating system (actually a clone that was named zenix).

Having all this "sophisticated" equipment, Wayne decided to offer courses in computer programming for the students. Our's was the first school in Chicago to have a course for high school students that taught Unix, C language, Compiler Basic and a host of other computer related subjects. Classes were held at Wayne 's house.

The concept of networking was brought down to an affordable price so that the school could make an investment in a computer network. Languages could be taught, learning plans could be designed, student papers could be worked on from the computer room, and so forth. We had come a long way and it was a hard struggle.

In 1985 the High School was given an honor as being an exemplary school in the United States . We, who worked so hard to make that possible, felt that finally all our devotion, sweat and even tears, finally came to fruition. However, as quickly as it came, it was taken away by a man named Bennett, who was in charge of the Department of Education. Guess the Department of Education wasn't ready to give an exemplary school award to a Puerto Rican High School.

By the middle of the '80's Wayne had finished writing and copyrighted a computer program consisting of around 10,000 lines of code that he called Rainbow News. People were leaving messages, posting other information, etc. Wayne then had the idea to put this information to press. Rainbow News, the newspaper, was then created. You can go to the Chicago Historical Society to get a sneak peak of what it was about. The subhead for the paper read "The Paper Smart People Read."

Wayne appeared in Crain Chicago Business as well as other noteworthy publications.

The late '80's brought about the publication of Wayne 's second book.

In 1987 the Belmont-Cragin area suffered through another terrible flood. History will show that ten years later it was struck again with even heavier rains.

The start of the '90's Wayne used as his personal research and development period. The school and the programs had the blueprint for success and succeed they did.

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1. Unix is an operating system that was originally developed by two gentlemen working out of Bell Labs. The language "C" came into being because of their work. The most familiar and perhaps honorary accolade attributed to these gentlemen is the first program most people learn to write that says, "Hello World."

People without money are not afforded the same opportunities as those with money. Although we would like to believe that everyone has the same opportunity in education, the fact is that this is simply not the case. Some schools are definitely better than others both in the educational setting (classrooms, halls, and in general structure) as well as equipment.

Alternative education is a viable means by which students can learn. In fact, more and more people are beginning to realize that what was said in the preceding paragraph has come to pass as a reality. People are beginning to take their children out of the public school system and actively pursue Home Schooling.

In Chicago, the public school is paramount to a prison camp that is not conducive to the learning process. There are gangs within the school, cameras inside and out, metal detectors, and other surveillance type activities. Academics has turned into "baby sitting" with the result that most students cannot even perform simple arithmetic operations. More amazing is the fact that they graduate from high school.

Then to make matters worse, not too long ago the CPS Board decided that our students do not need to understand Mathematics to the same level of their predecessors so they removed the requirement of Mathematics from their curriculum to graduate.

Yet, the solutions that the State Legislature and the Chicago Public School (CPS) have envisioned is to simply throw more money into the ill fated system. The answer, we feel, is not necessarily more money being thrown into a system that is proven not to work, but seeking alternative ways that eliminate the Gestapo environment and reduce class sizes to more reasonable numbers so that the teacher can better prepare the student for their life ahead. This is simply not done by the CPS.

Footnote. You can visit a sample link that shows how your taxpayer money is spent for one particular school of the CPS. Here is that link.