Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!mcnc!duke!sam.cs.olemiss.edu!candy.cs.olemiss.edu!hcc From: hcc@candy.cs.olemiss.edu (Conrad Cunningham) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: secondary education computer mastery Message-ID: <1991Apr10.202607.6746@cs.olemiss.edu> Date: 10 Apr 91 20:26:07 GMT References: <1991Apr10.164652.1726@cs.ubc.ca> Sender: news@cs.olemiss.edu Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science Lines: 20 In article <1991Apr10.164652.1726@cs.ubc.ca> manis@cs.ubc.ca (Vincent Manis) writes: >1) I heartily disapprove of the concept of `first-year [anything] >majors'. I'm constantly amazed at the number of students who arrive at >our university with a detailed educational plan, only to change it >completely after a year or so. Accordingly, secondary schools ought to >concentrate upon giving a student breadth, so that s/he knows enough >about the various fields of human endeavour to be able to choose >electives (and even a minor) intelligently. I agree with the suggestion of disallowing first-year majors--in theory at least. However, in practice, in fields such as CS, engineering, mathematics, or the physical sciences, it is difficult for a student to graduate in four years if he/she doesn't begin the sequence as a first-year student. Curricula in such fields tend to have relatively long prerequisite chains. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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