The college I went to attempted to balance these - covering both abstract concepts and concrete tools and practical skills in roughly equal measure. I think th

The college I went to attempted to balance these - covering both abstract concepts and concrete tools and practical skills in roughly equal measure. I think that's fair. Some people will go on to use both to work as a programmer, some may focus much more heavily on the theory end to focus on the science part of CS. MS Office definitely doesn't seem to have a place. Maybe for a general "computer competency" course for college students, but not as part of a CS program.