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Bullshit translator: mean intelligence of newcomers becomes so low that we have to lower our programs or only veeeeery few can attend them. And we need more stu

by xte 8y ago

Bullshit translator: mean intelligence of newcomers becomes so low that we have to lower our programs or only veeeeery few can attend them. And we need more students so more money. Disagree? Say thanks to all school reforms in the past 30-40-50 years. A bit of extras: in today world we can't produce really anything new due to managerial-driven society and beside that it's better people do NOT really understand how things work to avoid not only embarrassments but also potential idea to radically wipe out certain kind of business models. So better saying: you can't understand the big picture! Keep play with thing Bigs&powerful give you, they came directly from the nature do not worry about it. Sorry to have made few "potential-flamey comments" in a row but reasons written in the article have really no other meaning to my eyes. That's not intended to be political or flamebait, it's simply what I see. I do NOT start with scheme, I discovered it years after and I even do not love it too much due to it's n-th implementation incompatibilities, srfi and "sparse" documentation... But when I discover lisp-like languages in general I see a completely different world and really change my mind. Guile scheme, even with the lacks of libraries etc it's now one of my preferred way to express concepts. Also as per explanation I can't accept as engineer and even as a citizen to make thing, under my responsibility, with my signature etc that I do not really understand. This kind of idea is simply the exact opposite of engineering.

akhilcacharya 8y ago
> mean intelligence of newcomers becomes so low that we have to lower our programs or only veeeeery few can attend them. And we need more students so more money. Disagree? Say thanks to all school reforms in the past 30-40-50 years. uh, you know this is about MIT right? A school that has seen its acceptance rate dwindle to nearly 7%?
- xte 8y ago
  Yep, and I also see few of their on-line filmed lectures and form my present opinion... I'm European so I came from a really different (older/less reformed) school system and I'm old enough to see how it's change. I also casually interact with USA people and my conclusion is simple: having really poor schools "because there is college after" it can't really work. I see in EU, reform after reform, how unprepared become high-school students and how hard, if not impossible, universities try to "recover" them changing their programs. In the USA this phenomenon it's extreme so even with a super-low acceptance rate results have to be also extreme. You simply can't get smart but ignorant people and in few years transform them in high-skilled and acculturated guys. Being smart help of course, but learn require time. The better you start, early, the better you'll end up after.
swelz 8y ago
>Bullshit translator: mean intelligence of newcomers becomes so low that we have to lower our programs or only veeeeery few can attend them. In this case, I think the areas in which programming and CS are applicable has increased so greatly it's now more feasible to have them start from a more general abstracted area and chose their focus as they grow - learning the tools and theory they need for their chosen focus. If they start getting bogged down by more complex languages it prevents them from identifying after a year or two which areas they are interested in pursuing and focusing on.
- xte 8y ago
  Hem, Python is more complex than Scheme... And even if it sound far easier to start, especially for people that already know some imperative language, you need to understand a lot more things for a proper start. And after you have to learn more things that are peculiar to Pyhton, not programming in general...

by xte 8y ago

akhilcacharya 8y ago

> mean intelligence of newcomers becomes so low that we have to lower our programs or only veeeeery few can attend them. And we need more students so more money. Disagree? Say thanks to all school reforms in the past 30-40-50 years. uh, you know this is about MIT right? A school that has seen its acceptance rate dwindle to nearly 7%?

xte 8y ago
Yep, and I also see few of their on-line filmed lectures and form my present opinion... I'm European so I came from a really different (older/less reformed) school system and I'm old enough to see how it's change. I also casually interact with USA people and my conclusion is simple: having really poor schools "because there is college after" it can't really work. I see in EU, reform after reform, how unprepared become high-school students and how hard, if not impossible, universities try to "recover" them changing their programs. In the USA this phenomenon it's extreme so even with a super-low acceptance rate results have to be also extreme. You simply can't get smart but ignorant people and in few years transform them in high-skilled and acculturated guys. Being smart help of course, but learn require time. The better you start, early, the better you'll end up after.

swelz 8y ago

>Bullshit translator: mean intelligence of newcomers becomes so low that we have to lower our programs or only veeeeery few can attend them. In this case, I think the areas in which programming and CS are applicable has increased so greatly it's now more feasible to have them start from a more general abstracted area and chose their focus as they grow - learning the tools and theory they need for their chosen focus. If they start getting bogged down by more complex languages it prevents them from identifying after a year or two which areas they are interested in pursuing and focusing on.

xte 8y ago
Hem, Python is more complex than Scheme... And even if it sound far easier to start, especially for people that already know some imperative language, you need to understand a lot more things for a proper start. And after you have to learn more things that are peculiar to Pyhton, not programming in general...