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Completely agree. It resonated with my experience as well. Over my high school years I was incredibly frustrated by the things I was taught in ICT GCSE and ICT

by dom96 10y ago

Completely agree. It resonated with my experience as well. Over my high school years I was incredibly frustrated by the things I was taught in ICT GCSE and ICT A Level (at the time there was no computing GCSE/A level offered by my high school). And even now, I'm studying for a BSc in Computer Science and I'm surrounded by people who probably can't write a hello world application without getting help from a TA. I find the state of things really ridiculous and I wonder whether all UK universities are like this. What frustrates me the most is when my professors are seemingly putting a cap on my grades. It feels like they are pushing everyone who is lagging behind up (past the 40% pass mark) and everyone who's doing exceptionally well down (towards the 70% mark). I'm guessing that it makes sense to retain as many students as they can and at the same time ensure that the course isn't too easy, but it seems incredibly unfair. Also, what is up with the grading system? A "first" is 70%+, and as soon as you achieve that as an average you're indistinguishable from anybody else.

ihatestylometry 10y ago
The education system prioritizes that all students have a baseline knowledge above all else. It's not the goal to incentivize high achievers using a hard scoring system, because this'll prevent the success of others who aren't good in educational settings - and there is a group of people who are incredible programmers, but lack the skills to get good grades. If you're really good, you have remarkably good grades and do interesting projects in your spare time. w.r.t. your understanding of unfair: Don't compare yourself to fellow students, because they are by definition average. If you want to profit from your advantage: do stuff, get connected with great minds, build projects. This will get you years ahead of your fellow students who are busy passing the exams. What about this incredibly unfair advantage? ;)
runeblaze 10y ago
I hate when talent does not get distinguished. Nonetheless the time spent chasing the busy-work to get an A in US CS courses seems more detrimental to personal projects and interests... I wish I could just get a cutoff at 80% and just not worry anymore.

by dom96 10y ago

ihatestylometry 10y ago

The education system prioritizes that all students have a baseline knowledge above all else. It's not the goal to incentivize high achievers using a hard scoring system, because this'll prevent the success of others who aren't good in educational settings - and there is a group of people who are incredible programmers, but lack the skills to get good grades. If you're really good, you have remarkably good grades and do interesting projects in your spare time. w.r.t. your understanding of unfair: Don't compare yourself to fellow students, because they are by definition average. If you want to profit from your advantage: do stuff, get connected with great minds, build projects. This will get you years ahead of your fellow students who are busy passing the exams. What about this incredibly unfair advantage? ;)

runeblaze 10y ago

I hate when talent does not get distinguished. Nonetheless the time spent chasing the busy-work to get an A in US CS courses seems more detrimental to personal projects and interests... I wish I could just get a cutoff at 80% and just not worry anymore.