France for Freebooters

An Independent Traveler's View of 

France and its History

by Mike Kingdom-Hockings 

Home

All Articles

All Photos

Other Sites

Contact Me

Privacy

Link to this site

One puzzled student asked, "What gender is computer?" The teacher did not know, and the word wasn't in her French dictionary.. So for fun, she split the class into two groups, by gender, and asked them to decide whether "computer" should be a masculine or feminine noun.

Both groups were required to give four reasons for their recommendation..

The men's group decided that computers should definitely be feminine ("la computer"), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic..
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else..
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for possible later retrieval..
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your pay check on accessories for it..

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("le computer"), because:

1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on..
2. They store a lot of data but they are still clueless..
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem..
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you'd waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model..

The women won..

* * *

Let's consider the subject from a different viewpoint:

1. Would the result have been the same if the teacher had been a man?

2. Describe a likely scenario if the students had been using Programmed Learning terminals with no human teacher immediately available. 

Please post your answers to the Notice Board