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- From: mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (J. D. McDonald)
- Subject: Re: Preparation for programming
- References: <1992Sep1.000910.16548@cis.ohio-state.edu> <BtwJGC.1F1@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1992Sep04.222529.29814@digibd.com> <Bu5qxv.Gn0@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
- Message-ID: <mcdonald.279@aries.scs.uiuc.edu>
- Sender: usenet@news.cso.uiuc.edu (Net Noise owner)
- Organization: UIUC SCS
- Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 15:11:07 GMT
- Lines: 34
-
- In article <Bu5qxv.Gn0@mentor.cc.censored.edu> (Censored by
- JDM)@pop.stat.censored.edu (censored) writes:
-
- Somebody else wrote:
-
- >> People who just study books and ace tests make poor
- >> business employees but fairly good academics, i.e. LOT'S of
- >> theory but little experience to back that theory up.
-
- >They may make popular teachers, but they are only good at teaching the
- >details and methods without understanding. What is needed is conceptual
- >understanding, and this is not being taught, and is resented by the
- >brainwashed students. It is not skills which are needed, but the understanding
- >to acquire them, and to recognize when they should or should not be used.
-
- Sounds like Herman Rubin talking to me. Herman may have a recognizable
- broken-record style, but, folks, he is 100% on the mark here, and its
- a **very** important point.
-
- I would add that these poeple will make neither good business employees
- nor good academics except in special cases. They **will** be valuable
- business employees in a certain circumstance: as members of a Japanese-
- style "development team". The Japanses educational system turns out
- tons of these people, an as long as a few real-world people get out somehow
- to get on these teams, the people who are the kind the original poster
- describes as "test-acers" will be valuable on those teams.
-
- However, note that the deep thinkers may also ace tests.
-
- >Herman Rubin,
-
- Yep, its Herman.
-
- Doug McDonald
-