Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!noao!ncar!gatech!mcnc!duke!sam.cs.olemiss.edu!candy.cs.olemiss.edu!hcc From: hcc@candy.cs.olemiss.edu (Conrad Cunningham) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Language Use Keywords: C,Ada,Pascal,C++,Other? Message-ID: <1991Mar26.134531.1644@cs.olemiss.edu> Date: 26 Mar 91 13:45:31 GMT References: <1150@ra.MsState.Edu> <12219@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <348@tslwat.UUCP> <242@zeus.mc.ab.com> Sender: news@cs.olemiss.edu Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science Lines: 22 In article <242@zeus.mc.ab.com> stern@decserver.mc.ab.com (Ken Stern (ext 4157)) writes: > ... And educational institutions, if they are doing their job, should > be preparing their students for the real world. ... Although I agree that students graduating with a degree in computer science should have a reasonable level of immediately applicable skills and knowledge, developing such skills and knowledge is not our primary "job". Our job is provide an environment which encourages students to become "educated", not necessarily to train students with exactly those skills that some industry believes it needs. We ought to teach the better ways to do things, not just the conventional ways. Our students need to be dissatisfied with the status quo; otherwise how can organizational inertia be overcome. The "real world" is one of rapid technological and social change. Students need to prepare themselves for that kind of world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Conrad Cunningham | Dept. of Computer & Info. Sci., Univ. of Mississippi Tel: (601) 232-5358 | 302 Weir Hall, University, MS 38677 U.S.A. Fax: (601) 232-7010 | Email: cunningham@cs.olemiss.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------