And computer science programs, typically elective courses, have suffered in recent years because of budget cuts and the priority given to core courses that are

And computer science programs, typically elective courses, have suffered in recent years because of budget cuts and the priority given to core courses that are the basis of standardized tests. This is why I always tend to hate standardized tests. They don't test once ability in the field he would like to study. I think these "tests" must test once aptitude in a field. For example ask someone to make an algorithm for certain task. Now he may not have got formal training in algorithms, but he can certainly make a procedure for something, group repetitive tasks and all such things. This is not only for CS students you can test mechanical aspirants for there understanding of basic physical laws and mathematics behind it. This idea may not be able to replace the SAT or the JEE/AIEEE we give in india but it does have potential to become part of such exams and let the students showcase there aptitude towards a given field. Whenever I present such idea to someone I always tend to get a scorn, they say that a student is not always able to decide the field they would like to work in. But I say if he/she cannot decide where to channel there energy they should drop a year just to contemplate there choices and options. Also, we can blame our education system for such inabilities in decision. We are always forced to study everything, but they ever encourage us to give some extra time to our interests. This is similarly true for ever discipline be it science, arts, commerce. You just have to study everything in detail. I would like a course where I am encouraged to learn the basics of everything and then go into one thing in detail. But here is a word of caution. That one thing should not be a very nano-sized niche. It should be somewhat broad. Like for electronics students it can be something like signal processing,micro controllers/processors, circuit design etc.