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From: root@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: The purpose of Universities
Message-ID: <699@bu-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 6-Oct-85 18:22:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.699
Posted: Sun Oct  6 18:22:04 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Oct-85 03:18:24 EDT
Organization: Boston Univ Comp. Sci.
Lines: 41


>At least Bill's Business College sells what they purport to sell.
>--
>
>			Charlie Martin
>			(...mcnc!duke!crm)

Excuse me, as a person involved in a University, exactly what did we
'purport to sell'? Massive numbers of cheap programmers all talented and all
interested and well trained in your particular applications, just add water?
I doubt we promised you that or anything like that.  Your entire attitude
that the purpose of a University is to serve whatever current trends in
industry's labor needs are fashionable/profitable I find offensive. Sorry
sir, grow up. Yes, we make 'em literate *you* do the job training, and when
that ceases to be, we all lose badly, if you don't believe that, try to look
beyond your spreadsheet and short term employment needs. Maybe you have to
spend a few $$ teaching a new hiree what to think about, but who do you
think taught him/her/you that thinking was an important activity and how to
go about it? And if you believe that is tacit, just talk to people who are
poorly educated and see what *they* think about, try to get a person with a
poor education to read a book or solve an abstract idea at all, they'll
laugh at you and go on living in their sadly limited little worlds. You miss
the point of an education, it is not to produce trained poodles, it is to
produce people who want to and know how to solve problems, don't take those
skills for granted, as abstract as they sound. And yes, they do tend to do
just fine and make you industry types lots of money despite your belly-aching
and tax-credits which result in us having to produce those people on a
shoestring and putting up with the low salaries etc.

It's disgusting the way these attitudes have currently created a climate
where University funds have all but dried up and fat-cats from industry are
swinging their pocketbooks in ways that only governments should be allowed
to like drunken sailors in a whorehouse on payday.  Fortunately, not all of
us are selling and there are still a few decent folks out there (in both
government and industry) who know why we exist.

I mean, the next time you need a typist will you suggest that we should be
producing more typists? Yes, that's how silly you sound, you are just
blinded by some myopic thinking.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University