Achieving Hard Fun

Achieving hard fun is not impossible.  Hard fun is usually manifested in the current K-12 structure under sports and fine arts.  These are competencies that aren't easy to master at the beginning but get easier through discipline and constant practice.  In the right context, it can occur in computer sciences.  With familiarity, skills develop and allow for hard fun.  As a Technical Support Specialist, I find IT to be hard fun.  I have no formal training in hardware or software.  The hard fun works by applying skills from other disciplines to troubleshoot and analyze problems.

Standardized testing inhibits hard fun.  The focus is on mastering established norms instead of seeking new or unknown knowledge.  Students are literally being asked to know or memorize things that have already been created or done.  The incentive or possibilities for hard fun are systemically not there.

Virtuosos and Masters in practice achieve this status based on dedication and discipline to craft.  Most professional athletes have dedicated their formative years to homing their craft.  They were not always able to dunk, dribble between their legs or lift 300lbs.  It took years of development.  With computer technology, I would argue that hard fun is actually easier.  Whatever the mind can envision, it is possible to add something new to the field.  There are lifetime computer scientists as well as young gamers that contribute by way of hard fun.