Universities Have a Computer-Science Problem
theatlantic.comI only skimmed the article, which seems to argue for a level of well-roundedness in computer science programs (coming from an author who dropped out of their CS program in favor of philosophy in the 90s).
I’d sympathize more with this if college was not so expensive. If you have the means, by all means spend the credit hours on whatever you like. But covering tuition is difficult for many students, and graduating even one semester early is a significant cost savings, and more so if you can start working and making money.
Instead of “random humanities” requirements, maybe actually prepare me for a job. Provide industry relevant courses, or apprenticeship / internship opportunities. Or leave me time to do school and a job concurrently to help cover tuition.
Let me be done with school, and afterward I’ll learn a language or philosophy or whatever I like in my free time.
> Instead of “random humanities” requirements, maybe actually prepare me for a job
I can’t access the article, so I don’t know what the author is advocating. But there’s a strong case to be made that a well rounded education is the best job preparation you can get. Particularly so when you consider that skills age quickly and you’ll need to adapt and retool many times over the course of a career.
Of course, you need to master the fundamentals of whatever field you’re going into, but it’s very useful - economically - to have some fluency in other areas.
I'm pretty sure computer science has a universities problem. Even before this most recent surge in enrollment they were churning out graduates who couldn't code their way out of a paper bag.
This was addressed in the article:
The relationship between the theoretical computer scientists in mathematics and the applied ones in engineers is a little like the relationship between biologists and doctors, or physicists and bridge builders. Keeping applied and pure versions of a discipline separate allows each to focus on its expertise, but limits the degree to which one can learn from the other.
It's a bit like the difference between writing about film and making a film. Unless noted otherwise, a person writing about film has little to no filmmaking experience... Hence, I am always surprised when people are surprised that someone who majored in computer science can't program.
The upshot is that the writer agrees with you (and expands that agreement into a larger theory about what college education should be for).
I would bet they had no problem passing the Cracking the Coding Interview type algos coding that so many places use as a proxy for intelligence and competence.
Most cannot
Well, according to German CS profs, actually writing software is beneath computer scientists. They seem to have so little experience with actually writing software that they completely miss how much practice inspires and validates (or invalidates - at least regarding usefulness) theory. It boggles the mind how much potential was squandered by these fools.
depends on the university
See https://archive.ph/2024.03.19-180009/https://www.theatlantic... if that link doesn’t work for you.
Meanwhile the CEO of Nvidia is telling the world that people don't need to learn to code and we'll all be out of jobs soon.
If universities were run more like businesses, the problem would be solved by laying off professors in the departments with little demand and hiring in the ones that have demand.