Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!peregrine!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!cs.utexas.edu!helios!schales From: schales@photon.tamu.edu (Douglas Lee Schales) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Against educational fads Message-ID: Date: 5 Dec 90 22:12:18 GMT References: <15404@cs.utexas.edu> <15425@cs.utexas.edu> <1990Dec5.005509.11049@massey.ac.nz> <15447@cs.utexas.edu> <39897@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <15459@cs.utexas.edu> <1199@halley.UUCP> Sender: usenet@helios.TAMU.EDU Organization: /user/schales/.organization Lines: 41 In-reply-to: publius@halley.UUCP's message of 5 Dec 90 19:09:46 GMT In article <1199@halley.UUCP> publius@halley.UUCP (publius) writes: [ Russell's comments deleted... ] I generally agree with Russell's view in this thread. I simply want to point out that even the higher education does not escape the problem of chasing after passing fads. Just consider the amount of money wasted in AI research, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ which adds little to our industrial strength. I have seen some PhDs in ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Computer Science who wrote dissertations on AI yet know little about the fundamentals of computer systems. I think it should be pointed out that *INDUSTRY* funds a large amount of the AI research. One would have to conclude that they consider it important, perhaps not now, but for their future success. While I am *NOT* an AI fanatic (computer systems and algorithms tend to hold my fancy), I do recognize that many ideas have come from AI research, and that its application in other areas will have many benefits. Also, it should be recognized that Computer Science is becoming a very broad field and expecting everyone in the field to know a lot about each area is too much. One does not expect a civil engineer to know how to perform the tasks of an electrical engineer. Why should we expect AI/Software Engineering/Theory/Systems/etc experts to be competent in areas outside their chosen fields? Especially at the Ph.D. level where specialization plays an important part. No one area is more important than the other, each has its place, otherwise, it would not exist. (If I left your favorite field out above, don't hold it against me. I just took a quick sample of my memory space and those are the ones I found... :) ) Comments/Suggestions/Criticisms/Flames/Hate-mail are quite welcome. Douglas Lee Schales schales@cs.tamu.edu Dept. of Computer Science Texas A&M University