Re: coders instead of engineers ...
I’ll try to make this brief. I had a conversation with my daughter’s HS Computer Science teacher about the curriculum. He was frustrated about having to teach specific items. He has fought the local ISD and Texas Education Agency (TEA) about the CS curriculum.
The TEA told him (in polite legalese) that the curriculum is not designed to teach students to be creative in solving problems. It is designed to familiarize them with current technology so they can get jobs.
I wrote a letter to the TEA and Governor Perry explaining that today’s students require the ability to solve problems not simply generate lines of code. In particular, I referenced a speech that Governor Perry gave on equipping our children with the knowledge they need to be the next generation of innovators.
I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but the TEA recently asked that teacher to submit a redesigned curriculum with “inspiring innovation” in mind. Hopefully, we planted a seed.
Which is exactly what colleges have become: Trade schools. They teach such as computer languages but they do not educate anymore. It is all about “getting a job” and not “getting a career”.