Mark, >do anything. The question is, as you state, what is important to know. In a world >in which the computer does play an important role, NOT knowing how a computer works >means that you are forever trapped by others' depictions of how the computer should >be used.
and having a small amount of programming experience prevents you being trapped? Have you ever tried to argue with a sales assistant whose stock reply is "That is how the computer does things"? From a commercial perspective I would have no problem with CS students not learning to program. I have worked with recent graduates who had never programmed and those that have. CS students seem to pick up some very strange ideas about how writing software is done, that in some cases makes them much more costly to (re)train than those who started off knowing nothing. Then there are the quality of life issues. Forget terrorists, think of the mayhem that undertrained programmers can cause. I think we need to keep people away from programming computers. >I recently met with a Dean of Architecture who explained that all their upper-level >undergraduate courses are offered in three sections each: One for each of the major >CAD tools. Students can learn one CAD package, take all of their courses in that one >package, and never learn any other. They were completely at the mercy of one >depiction of what a computer is good for. Their students were not studying computing >as a topic itself, and thus, were never recognizing that all three CAD packages were >essentially the same. By having students now take a course in computing (yes, >Architecture students are taking our introduction to programming course), we hope >that they can learn to recognize what these tools are doing and develop increased >ability to transfer between the packages -- and even think for themselves about what >the computer might be capable of automating for them. This is rather a roundabout way of getting a point across. Sounds like your head of department is a good salesman who has found a way of filling the hole in student numbers left by the collapse of the dot com bubble. >>The approach to education needs to change to >>include ignorance management. In the past so > >Oh, I don't know. Ignorance seems to be getting along quite well on its own these >days -- I'm not sure that we need to actively manage it. Letting it go on its merry way is likely to be much more costly. derek -- Derek M Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667 Knowledge Software Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
