arnold@csu-cs.UUCP (Ed Arnold) (04/23/84)
> = Aloke Prabhakar >In short, my friends, what we have here is a national phenomenon. >College students these days go to college mostly to get jobs. There may not be >any at this rate. I came to this school to get a good education, >not to ensure myself a well paying job. It makes me rather upset to see >someone in the CS major who, 10 years ago, would have been in Pre-med because >"thats the place to be." It kills me when someone makes these great authoritative statements like: "college students these days go to college mostly to get jobs." Why then does anyone go to school? No, let me guess; to get an education? If this were indeed so there would be no need for grades. I find it difficult to equate education with college. I agree that you have the chance to become educated at a college, but the way our higher-educational (:-) system is structured makes an education a difficult goal (for some unreachable). I rather think that we're in college to be trained for a job. It is very similar to a vocational school, only everyone thinks that what they're doing is so much more noble (:-) in comparison to those vocational types. This statement, generally, is directed at the highly popular majors (which by the way are the best for salary and new openings) such as Computer Science, Engineering and Business. Things are not all that hopeless, indeed there are some here who are really here for the education. You tend to find them in the more obscure majors. When having a discussion with someone on campus , you'll find that if you're a Philosophy major people are not impressed. Now if you say, "I'm in Engineering." People tend to hold you in a higher regard. Of course these statements are generalizations and don't apply to all, just most. You'll even find some in the big majors who are here for the education. These folks tend to be the ones who have problems with a required curriculum. The reason for this trouble is due to the inflexibility and narrowness of the various curricula. Some majors are worse than others in inflexibility, for example: Engineering has only 8-9 hours which can truly be electives (classes of your choice) whereas Computer Sci. has about 30-40 hours of which you have the selection on what you wish to take. I define education as a general (sometimes thorough) understanding of both arts and sciences. Those that we admire as great scholars were men who transcended knowledge through an integration of art and science. We have many undergrads in our department who will say they're getting an "education." Yet these same people are afraid to take anything which departs from the technical ground on which they stand (such thinking is truely uneducated :-). Yet there also will be folks who are not afraid to take a chance, they take some speech or maybe an art class or, if their very crazy, a philosophy class. These folks are taking a large risk with their prized GPA <ha..ha..:-)>. This GPA, for most, is a key for employment (usually the ones who are not here for the education). This does not apply to those brilliant folks who can do anything and get an A. (to those I bow my head in praise :-) What is ironic is that companies support this narrowness of mind by only interviewing people with a GPA greater than some number. The people that they'll usually hire were those whose "education" was so narrow that it disqualifies itself as an education but more a vocation. A sorry state. To get a true education is a difficult goal at an institution of higher learning. There are other means to get an education, probably the best (and cheapest) is on your own. Good examples of people like this can be found everywhere, how about Douglas Hofstadtler? He could well serve as a role model for all of us. The diversity of his knowledge is great, truely educated. I am not trying to cut down those who got a 4.0 in college, neither am I trying to bolster those who had a 2.1. I am tipping my hat to those who are here for the education (no matter what their GPA). I'm also trying to inform those who are here for a job will most likely get a vocation, not an education. Flame on high, Ed Arnold {hplabs,hpfcla,unmvax,hao,denelcor} (csu-cs!arnold) Colorado State University Ft. Collins, Colorado