Xref: utzoo comp.edu:2608 comp.software-eng:2320
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!sharkey!cfctech!teemc!fmsrl7!nucleus!dar
From: dar@nucleus.UUCP (Dario Alcocer)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: CS education
Summary: Universities/Colleges vs. Technical Schools
Message-ID: <5470@nucleus.UUCP>
Date: 8 Nov 89 18:10:26 GMT
References: <11064@cbnews.ATT.COM> <6961@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Organization: The Nucleus Public Access Unix, Clarkston, MI
Lines: 39

> Now let me clarify one thing before my E-mail box overflows... I am NOT
> saying or even implying that current CS curricula is not valuable.  What
> I AM trying to say is that I think it could be a LOT more relevant
> (to the real world, vs. the academic world).
> 
I think there is a straightforward explanation for the situation
mentioned here.  Historically, the function of universities and colleges in
Western-style society are to develop an academic elite that advances the
technical frontiers, the people whose research will provide new technologies
in the future.  Only within the last 25(?) years or so have people come to
think of universities and colleges as 'degree factories' or glorified
technical schools.

The main purpose of a university or college education is
NOT to provide the necessary skills to graduates to fill entry-level
positions in the job market, but to produce a well-educated elite that
already have the necessary position in society to make a difference; if you
look at the histories of the Ivy league schools, for example, you'll find
that the gradutes of the late 19th and early 20th century were from
well-to-do families being groomed for positions alredy available to them,
and were not concerned about looking for a job.

However, since broadening of the student bodies in these institutions, more
people, especially middle-class people, go to universities and colleges not
to become part of an academic elite, but to get the training necessary to
enter the job market.  To the extent that is has occured, these institutions
have had to stray from their original purpose.

I think that the technical school and high schools are the ones in the
position to train people for the job market.  That's where, I think job
training would be both more effective and a better use of educational
resources.

That's my opinion... what's yours?

Dario Alcocer (UC San Diego, '87)
San Diego, CA
via Nucleus
(dar@nucleus.mi.org)