Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!bionet!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!gatech!udel!princeton!phoenix!dykimber
From: dykimber@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Daniel Yaron Kimberg)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Student Preparedness
Message-ID: <5607@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 19 Jan 89 19:25:07 GMT
References: <5382@pdn.UUCP> <6838@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>
Reply-To: dykimber@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Daniel Yaron Kimberg)
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 40

In article <6838@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> elg@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Eric Green) writes:
>Even undergrads can have areas that they "like" more than others. At
>junior-senior levels, they ought to look into those areas in more
>depth than topics they don't particularly care for. But rarely will
>you find someone who does.

Rarely among poor students, who are the most noticeable.

[sorry i chopped the first attribution]
>>The introductory level student will not be as willing to read a lengthy paper
>>as a junior or senior.  Also, many papers in the literature require some basic
>>knowledge in the subject matter that these students just don't have at this
>>point!  Many tutorial or survey papers, while written for the novice in a
>>particular subject area, require some level of basic general CS knowledge.
>[...]
>But as for the "willing to read a lengthy paper": In my view, the
>people serious about CS will be quite willing to do it. The rest will
>change major to Business Administration as soon as they find out that
>CS not "easy", so why pander to them?

Becuase not everyone who might make a good computer scientist is going to
know right off that that's what they want to do.  You're expecting
introductory students to spend an inordinate amount of time devoted to
deciphering a paper in a subject in which they may or many not even be
interested.  And unless you're saying that computer science is somehow
different in this respect, then you're really expecting them to do this in
several different areas.  And all this without, apparently (that I could
detect from your message), any concern as to whether or not this is a good way
to teach computer science (which I suspect it's anything but).
    Sure, the rest will change to business administration.  Who wants to
major in a subject in which it's a virtue to waste your time reading a paper
that's assigned not because it will help the learning process, but because
of something completely independent.  Who wants to major in a subject where
open-mindedness about your area of concentration is punished, while being
narrow is rewarded?  As far as I'm concerned, an introductory level course
should be just that.  It should introduce the material, the goal should be
education.  If someone wants to have their loyalty tested, let them join a
cult.

                                          -Dan