[clue-tech] Are colleges dumbing down computer degrees?

[Angelo Bertolli]

Kevin Cullis wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I had dinner with a long time friend who works at a telecom here in 
> town stated that the college kids that he is working with, while 
> smart, all not as prepared as previous years graduates. I.e. most only 
> know Windows and know very little Mac/Linux from the UNIX background 
> to do the "heavy" work that they need. Are the rest of you finding the 
> same thing? Are colleges NOT preparing young computer users to even 
> think about going down this route?
>
> Your thoughts?
I don't know, it probably depends on what schools they're going to.  I'm 
sure the major universities all still use one or more versions of UNIX 
for the classes.  Other than giving exposure to the students, I don't 
think college is about learning a particular OS, but more about building 
a good mental foundation for new things that get thrown at you.

I will say this though:  at least in CS there seems to be a big 
discrepancy in skill level even within the same class.  I don't know why 
this is, but I think it's because the traditional method of grading does 
not accurately measure knowledge in this area as it does in other 
areas.  There are quite often poor students who really really know what 
they're doing, and good students who don't know how to read man pages.  
Go figure.

Angelo