Xref: utzoo comp.edu:2708 comp.software-eng:2541 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!motcid!murphyn From: murphyn@cell.mot.COM (Neal P. Murphy) Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.software-eng Subject: Re^2: CS education Message-ID: <450@cherry5.UUCP> Date: 29 Nov 89 15:23:07 GMT References: <1989Nov21.172751.3078@world.std.com> <7183@hubcap.clemson.edu> Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL 60004 Lines: 58 billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe, 2847 ) writes: >... > such application domains, and it would behoove us to present the > student with software development problems which are relevant to > the problem domain(s) in which the student intends to specialize. >... Why must students specialize? (Not why *would* they, but why *must* they?) A common thread through most of your articles is that students must restrict themselves to one specific, narrow field of CS/SE. This teaches students to know only what they know and to be closed to learning anything else, including topics related to what they know. This produces, quickly enough, an employee who can perform a specific task, but is completely unable to relate that task to his fellow employees' tasks! A student has a lifetime to spend specializing in some field. As a student, it is absolutely necessary that he receive as well-rounded and as broad and education as he can get while he is a student. As relates to CS, a student should learn a reasonable amount of physical sciences and mathematical sciences. He should at least be exposed to the basics of other fields of engineering. His CS program should expose him to a solid balance of Computing Science *and* Software Engineering. In addition, he should learn a fair bit of liberal arts, meaning literature, philosophy, subsequent languages, history, etc. Once graduated and employed, this person will be able to see how his work relates to his company's work and how his work relates to his society/culture in general. While he will likely not know enough about these relations to write a dissertation on either of them, he will know enough to feel at least some twangs of guilt when he strays too far from the right and good path. (Yes, it's another step away from childhood.) And, once graduated and employed, he will be free to specialize to his heart's content, returning to school to earn his MSCS and even his PhD. Yes, I do realize that some students will find a deep fascination for specific topics in CS. These students should not be allowed to blatantly disregard the rest of the CS field. This is where academic advisors should earn their keep - most other students will want to have the necessary balance. These special students need extra effort to get them to learn about other CS topics. If this were applied planetal (universal is a bit much!), we would be talking Utopia, and I'm too cynical to believe that that is even remotely possible. But if enough people receive a well-rounded education, the Earth would be a better place to live, because there would be a greater tolerance of the minority who don't fit the norms of society. After all, that is why we are subjected to twelve to sixteen years of education, isn't it? We are supposed to be learning how to fit into society, how to contribute to the future of the society and how to accept others who do and do not fit into society. Give a CS student a well-rounded education, including *both* Computing Science *and* Software Engineering, and he will be *far* better off than a student who is allowed to specialize and ignore most of his chosen field (and far more valuable to the company that hires him.) NPN Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com