Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes - Yahoo! News

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Karl Auerbach <karl () cavebear com>
Date: June 1, 2007 4:48:48 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: U.S. colleges retool programming classes -  
Yahoo! News

David Farber wrote:

(I hope I'm not adding dead weight to an already highly content-full  
discussion.)

I know that for myself that even after 12 years of grade+high school  
plus 4 years at UCLA and UC Berkeley and more years at Loyola (LA)  
law, that was, and remain, far from being an adequately educated person.

I perceive several different things that education ought to impart:

The first is some background of basic knowledge and skills - this is  
the readin', writin', and 'rithmetic part.

The second is a desire and courage (yes courage) to ask questions  
(and even perhaps look silly doing so) and to keep doing so until the  
question is answered.

The third is the understanding that we are all about the same degree  
of intelligence and that those who are "authorities" might just be  
windbags and that each of us has the ability, and right, to make our  
own independent inquiry and come up with our own answers.

Fourth comes higher level skills - more advanced math, history,  
music, physics, computer science.  To my mind this serves two  
distinct purposes: It hones the mind and teaches it to think, a skill  
that can be transferred to other disciplines.  And it gives us  
expertise in particular areas according to our talents and desires.

Fifth is the understanding that life is not a single, unforked road.  
That what education has done is to give us the ability to know that  
we have choices and that we are equipped to use the tools that  
education has given us on whatever fork we might chose.

To my way of thinking a society is strong and has the flexibility to  
meet the future if it has not merely experts in particular fields but  
also a rich foundation of people who can learn and adapt to new things.

So, to conclude, it does not bother me much if colleges shift  
emphasis as long as they produce people who are, in their core, able  
to do critical thinking, know how to learn new things, and have  
confidence in themselves to use those tools.  Having a veneer of  
specialization on top of that is good, but that specialization ought  
to be secondary to the core.

                --karl--


                --karl--





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