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From: usenet@ucbvax.ARPA (USENET News Administration)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Exams vs. Programming Assignments
Message-ID: <10524@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 3-Oct-85 04:15:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10524
Posted: Thu Oct  3 04:15:59 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Oct-85 04:45:21 EDT
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Reply-To: tedrick@ucbernie.UUCP (Tom Tedrick)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 22

>   I'll stick with my analogy, thanks: [ ... much deleted ... ] 
>			Charlie Martin

Basically I think I can agree with most of what Charlie said
(although there are a few minor misunderstandings, possibly).

I think though that there is a real problem with undergrads who
catch on to programming as if they were born to it, then decide 
that they know everything there is to know about Computer Science.
They fight ferociously against any attempt to teach the
underlying theory (at least we have hordes of that kind of
student at Berkeley ... I don't know if this happens elsewhere).
Computer Science has a marvelously rich theory and I wish more
of the undergrads could appreciate it. (Also the formal legal
purpose of this University (Berkeley) is to train scientists
and researchers, and promote scientific research, not to
provide job training for programmers.)

I do not want to be regarded as claiming the present system
is desirable. I do think it right to "tell it like it is" in
hopes of dispelling any naive hopes that undergrads might have,
for their own good. Life is difficult, grad school is worse ...


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