From: karl@ddsw1.mcs.com (Karl Denninger)
Subject: Re: Professional registration
Summary: JUST SAY NO!
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 04:29:26 GMT
Organization: MCSNet, Chicago, IL

In article <1992Dec22.130407.28628@tijc02.uucp> pjs269@tijc02.uucp (Paul Schmidt) writes:
>bhayden@teal.csn.org (Bruce Hayden) writes:
>: morpheus@entropy.mcds.com (morpheus) writes:
>: 
>: >Jim.Riddle@inns.omahug.org (Jim Riddle) writes:
>: 
>: >> I'm personally tired of hearing from all of these people who could've
>: >> gotten college degrees if they wanted to do so.  I'd like to know why
>: >> they didn't and why they seem to hold it against we who did!
>: 
>: >Lack of money could be a hell of a good reason.
>: 
>Hiwassee College, a two year school, will not turn anyone away that
>wants a degree but has a lack of money.  They will accept any student
>and work out a way for that student to go to college.  If anyone wants
>more information about the college, send me E-Mail.

Want some reasons why a few of us gave up on the US Educational system?
Here's a short list:

How about those of us who are damn tired of "colleges" where an education
takes a back seat to the whims and desires of some corporate sponsor who
happens to be in someone's back pocket (or front pocket for that matter)?

How about "educations" which consist of experience on obsolete equipment and
professors who know less than some of those who they are instructing?

How about "educational institutions" which believe that every student fits
in a peg-hole and therefore should follow a "precise" course of study --
even if it is a waste of time as the student in question knows the material?
How many schools still insist on incoming freshman taking a "BASIC" or "Pascal"
programming course -- or three?  Mine did -- BASIC, Pascal, then FORTRAN -- 
yet I was programming >multitasking kernels< in Macro Assembler when in high 
school.  My previous experience and knowledge counted for >nothing< in their 
eyes.  Flush the tuition for three unnecessary classes down our toilet please;
that's the price of admission to our program!

How about "educational institutions" which have Deans and department heads 
with the balls to say to a student who is fed up and about to leave (to 
enter business for him/herself) that "you'll never amount to anything"?
(To one in particular who might be reading this:  YOU WERE WRONG.)

How about "educational institutions" more interested in parceling out
resources on their computer equipment based on class status (ie: declare 
that major and follow our course of study or you can't use current 
technology) than allowing students to >learn<, which is the purpose of an
education anyway?


I gave up "college" many years ago with two years under my belt.  I would 
be willing to get a degree today -- but only on my terms.  I do not have 
the time or interest in wasting my time on a college with some parochial 
learning program, and even less interest in paying out of my pocket for 
that experience (an experience I have already had and discarded as useless).

If I am about to pay for a course of study, classes and all, it will be one
which >I< believe will be useful to >me<.  Not something that some committee
designed to fit the 50th percentile of students.  Yet this concept is something 
which our educational system, for all its "charm", cannot handle today.

My "lack" of a degree has never hampered my career -- quite to the contrary.
It is my experience that I, and others like myself, frequently outperform 
those who have their "Piled Higher and deepers"; many of those who I have 
met with a BS or BA in Computer Science could not program their way out of 
a paper bag.

Given the sad state of our educational system, and the graduates it
produces, I sincerely believe that the majority of those who are talented 
at computer-related work succeed in the marketplace >in spite< of their 
education rather than because of it.

The day that "mandatory" regulation comes, either in the form of
governmental certification or "industry specification" -- which is almost
certain to include a degree requirement (if for no other reason than the
market forces in a college will demand that their "investments" be
justified) then programming as an art form will be seriously compromised.

--
Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
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