> Ok, I've been following this thread for a while now. I'm a student > currently working on my BS in Computer Engineering and I'll only be on my > soap box for a few minutes here. Colleges used to be on the bleeding edge > of technology and now they aren't anymore. I'm a network security engineer > by practice and I'm having to study programmming and electronic design. > Granted this is good and important, because I must understand how the > technology works but while I'm learning the 1970s art of electronic design > I'm missing out on the latest in network design. Currently colleges are > in the mindset that you must be a grad student to even attempt networking > and that is killing me. Look at how many universities offer MS and PhD > programs in Network Engineering, but find one popular university that > offers the same program to undergrads. > > I walked into a research lab full > of grad students that were using out-dated Cisco and Bay equipment to > study for their CCNA. They were amazed to find out I got mine while still > in High-School almost 3 years ago (Yes I'm due for recert in May). The > universities need to work on building programs in networking and computer > security at the level of Computer Science and Computer Engineering. Sure > you can argue Networking is a subset of both programs and thus a > specialization that must be obtained after your BS. However, if thats the > logic then therefore a Landscape Architecture student must first major in > General Architecture and then work on their MS in Landscape Design. Which > is not the case. > > Another problem is that there are absolutely ZERO > Network Security or Computer Security courses at the undergrad level in my > school (Virginia Tech). So we are letting all these programmers out the > door without ever teaching them buffer overflows, or other security > issues. And we wonder why every system built has security flaws out the > wazoo. Now > I've tried to take classes above my degree program and have been refused > admission in all cases and that is so fustrating. Because for me the only > way to stay up on technology is to do research on my own for no school > credit, or to take a job in the world and forget about school. Colleges > are running the shop like a bakery, if you don't fit the cookie cutter > you are either thrown away or smashed back into the dough with the rest of > the ginger-bread men. > > I have found one answer....Tutoring, I've started tutoring MS students in > Network Applications and hopefully next semester I'll start with some > Network Security tutoring. But that only provides person rewards and I'm > still paying the same $20K/year to learn stuff I picked up in High-School > in three years of Electronics and 4 years of Programming Design. > > And now with budget cuts its getting worse and they are scratching classes > right and left.
I understand everything you said, and I agree that college coursework should modernize, but I think you may be missing the point of a college education. The point of a college education is not to prepare you to step into a job immediately. That is not its purpose, and never has been - even for such 'professional' degrees like engineering and CS. The purpose of the college degree is to provide you with a a reservoir of general knowledge upon which you can draw, as well as practice in life-skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and time-management. In essence, you learn how to learn. Consider this. The top Wall Street investment banks and management consultancies hire numerous students from a wide range of majors - and give preference to engineers. But why? What exactly does mergers&acquisitions have to do with Shakespeare? Or the philosophical theories of Rousseau? Or thermodynamic and quantum-mechanics equations? Answer - nothing. But that's not the point. Goldman Sachs doesn't hire somebody fresh out of college because they think he knows the gory details of how to close a billion-dollar stock offering. They hire him because he has proven in college to be a hard-worker who knows how to think critically. This is these companies put such an emphasis on GPA - not because they actually think the subject matter has anything to do with the job, but because a top GPA indicates a strong work ethic and a supple mind. To wit - look at the top management of any large company and notice how by and large everybody is a college graduate. Look at Congress - everybody's a graduate. Clearly that means that there's something going on, and that the degree isn't totally worthless. In fact, consider the case of the most famous dropout of all - Bill Gates, who himself has chosen to fill the entire ranks of Microsoft's top management with college graduates. Gates could have put whoever he wanted into those positions, so if the degree really wasn't valuable, don't you think Gates would have figured this out by now? If even Gates agrees, I would say that clearly there is something valuable about that degree. Now, again, that's not to say that significant improvements can't be made to the college education. I agree that many college curriculas do need to be updated. But I look askance at demands that colleges transform themselves into glorified vocational schools. If all they're doing is teaching the technology du-jour, and neglecting the building of fundamental thinking skills, then I think the heart of what higher education is really all about will be lost. > > *Steps down off the soap box* > Andrew > --- > > http://www.andrewsworld.net/ > ICQ: 2895251 > Cisco Certified Network Associate > > "Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all > of them yourself." Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=60076&t=59481 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
