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From: warren@psueea.uucp (Warren Harrison)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: CS education
Message-ID: <2030@psueea.UUCP>
Date: 29 Nov 89 18:30:47 GMT
References: <16171@duke.cs.duke.edu> <7184@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Sender: news@psueea.UUCP
Reply-To: warren@jove.cs.pdx.edu (Warren Harrison)
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Portland State University; Portland OR
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This article had so many follow ups I got lost as to who said what,
but I think this is attributed to Bill Wolfe:

>   prevented from studying because I was R-E-Q-U-I-R-E-D to study so many
>   things which were irrelevant.  Had I been free to make intelligent and
>   reasonable tradeoffs, I would be much farther along and would have gotten
>   a lot more enjoyment and value out of my education.  

It is the rare student indeed who *knows* what will be irrelevant and what
will be relevant in their career. A good university education should provide
the student with the breadth that will allow exploration outside a narrowly
defined specialty. For example, my undergrad degree was in Accounting. Luckily
I was able (required) to take other courses which I thought at the time were
irrelevant. I found these to be some of the most valuable courses I ever
had, and prepared me well for switching carrers (I'm now trying to be a
Computer Scientist). If you want specialization to the degree many people
are suggesting in this newsgroup, you're much better off going to a trade
school and learning the exact skills you perceive you'll need for the future.
If you currently are a practicing software engineer and want specific skills
that *you* think will help you, there is no lack of very good seminar/workshop
road shows that are bound to visit your city at least once a year - I have
taught several of them myself. They are certainly not meant to be a substitute
for a university education, and vice-versa.

Warren Harrison                CSNET: warren@cs.pdx.edu
Department of Computer Science UUCP:  {ucbvax,decvax}!tektronix!psueea!warren
Portland State University      Internet: warren%cs.pdx.edu@relay.cs.net
Portland, OR 97207-0751


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