Adding Crypto as a topic in secondary school IT lesson 將加密貨幣帶進中學電腦課

Adding Crypto as a topic in secondary school IT lesson
將加密貨幣帶進中學電腦課

Crypto undoubtedly become a hot topic in different cities in light of the rapid boost price of Bitcoins, which has raised the concern of public. I think it is similar to the eSports. Before, online games such as Leagues of Legend and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, they are deemed as only a meaningless entertainment without prospect, which is wasting the people time. But now, Esports is considered as a potential industries in the future. Resemble with football, many people watch the E-sports competition, the peripheral products gain profits. Besides, the Asian Games admit e-sports as a event from 2022. Potential of Crypto is not less than eSports. Although nowadays some people looks down on cryptocurrency, I believe on its potential.
近來因為加密貨幣爆炸性的升值，尤其是比特幣，因此引起了大眾的注意。連不上網的長輩也聽過Bitcoin。我認為加密貨幣和電子競技有點相似。以前玩英雄聯盟和CSGO 在大家眼中也只是娛樂，想不到數年後可以有職業聯賽和選手。認為電子競技沒有前景，浪費時間的聲音迅速被擊破。和足球差不多，有很多人去看賽事，周邊產品發展迅速，什至連2022年杭州運動會都加入了電子競技。加密貨幣的潛力不下於電子競技。即使現在有不少唱淡聲音，正如以前電競，但我相信其潛力。

I am confident with the Crypto that it is sustainable in the future, becoming a very imperative element in the world. Therefore, we may think of adding Crypto as a topic in school. It worths to use one to two lesson to talk about the crypto in order to let the children has the basic concept about it. There are mainly two fields related to crypto, which is Economics and Information Technology (IT Lesson) respectively. Where should we put the Crypto into? In my view, IT lesson is more suitable. Crypto varies in a very fast pace. IT Lesson keep abreast with the development, we seldom use a book to teach.(Otherwise we need to change the edition every year?! ) In our countries, IT are compulsory for junior secondary students, but students can omit Economics if they do not opt Business field in the Senior Secondary. In order to let every students has a basic concept of it, prepare for the omnipresence of crypto in the future world, putting Crypto as a topic in IT lesson is more suitable. However, only very basic concept is ok! Therefore, as a teacher, I will use one or two lesson to talk about the crypto only.
我有信心加密貨幣能夠成為日後日常生活中的一部分。所以，今天可以想想在學校教加密貨幣。教師們可用一至兩堂的時間去介紹加密貨幣的基本概念。加密貨幣跟經濟科和電腦科有關，我們應該將它放進那科好呢。筆者個人會選擇電腦科，IT這一科就是要保持著更新，無論是教材和教師自身，所以你可以見到IT科很少會用到書本。(不然最少每年要新修訂一次呢) 另外，在香港不少每個人都要學經濟，但每個人都要學電腦。將虛擬貨幣放進電腦科課程可以更普及，預備孩子去應對未來加密貨幣盛行的世界。不過要注意的是，很基本地講述就ok了，除非是資訊科技科選修。所以一至兩堂就足夠了。

Then, we will discuss what should we teach the children about the crypto. We need to ask few questions.
之後，筆者會簡述要講一些什麼給學生。大概是圍繞數條問題。

1. What is crypto? 什麼是加密貨幣?
   Clearly, not many people understand profoundly about the crypto. We cannot expect parents to instruct the concept. In order to make crypto prevalent in the world, it is a must to let our next generation know more about it.
   明顯地，現時不是很多人明白什麼是加密貨幣。我地不能夠期望由家長教授他們有關加密貨幣。如果想加密貨幣在將來能夠廣泛流通，我們必須讓我們的下一代了解更多。

2. What is so special about crypto? 加密貨幣有什麼特別/賣點?
   Decentralization, not create by government or specific 去中心化
   Not restrained by the law 不受法律管制
   Two-way exchange 雙向兌換
   Encryption 顧名思義，其加密性

3. What is the usage of crypto? 加密貨幣的應用?
   Private transaction and internet transaction 私人交易和網上交易
   Where accepts to use crypto? 哪裡接受加密貨幣

4.Understand the Pros and Cons of crypto 了解加密貨幣的好處和壞處
It is important to let the students to know about the pros and cons of crypto.
這部份很重要，要讓學生知道好處和壞處。

Pros:
Third Party is unnecessary
Supply of cryptocurrency cannot be manipulated from different government and bodies
Instant payment to everyone regardless of the region
Cryptocurrency are digital and cannot be counterfeited

好處:

• 不需要第三方
• 不會受到政府和其他第三方去干預
• 沒有地區和貨幣限制
• 不會有偽鈔的問題

Cons:

• It will be easily exploited by the criminals to do illegal things, as the identity is hard to traced due to it secrecy
• High Risk of Loss. safety problem, lack of application
• Excessive Volatility (although easier to gain much more) Cryptocurrency market seems more fluctuated
• Unstable and not yet widely accepted (illegal in some countries such as Thailand)

壊處:

• 容易被不法份子利用
• 高風險。安全問題 用到的地方有限
• 過大波動性 可以留意一下市場都是相當波動。當然也可以說是易有高回報
• 不被廣泛認受

5.(Recommended) Introduce some renowned cryptocurrency 了解現在有名的加密貨幣
I will choose Bitcoin and Ethereum. Of course maybe later there are some new potential cryptocurrency exceeds.
我會選擇比特幣和以太幣。當然隨著時代改變，可能未來有些加密貨幣會更加有名。

For the mechanism of cryptocurrency, it is too hard for secondary school students, so we are not going to discuss here.
加密貨幣的運作機制對於中學生來說是太過抽象和深奧，所以不在此詳述。

I think the content above is suitable for secondary school students. It is too abstract for primary school students. We can see some of the above may be deemed as current issue to discuss in the classroom. Nevertheless, majority still do not know about cryptocurrency. I see its potential and it is worth to put into education. More information will be discuss in the article later on.
以上的內容是可以對中學生講述和討論的。小學生就太過早了。其實以現在也有少部份課堂會視之為時事議題作討論，不過就不是包括於課程內。大眾對於加密貨幣的認識還不足夠。我看到它的潛力，認為可以考慮放進教育課程內。遲點會再出文章討論。