[KLUG Advocacy] Let's get this CS v. CIS v. moron v. other party started

[randall perry]

>I'm just a high school "graduate" (don't even count that honestly,  I ended with
>a 3.85 GPA the same time the social worker was beating on my door about not
>attending school, go figure).  I have a "UNIX Administration Certificate" from a
>local community college, but thats a joke as well;  finished the last exam and
>extra credit in seven minutes.
>
>In my college experience that problem was not even so much that the instructors
>were obselete themselves but the attitude of the school towards the students. 
>They treated us like customers.   Endless help was available - tutoring,
>extensions on assignments, leneancy on grading, etc...  It was entirely possible
>to pass a class with no competence in the topic whatsoever.  Flunking someone
>just didn't seem to be an option, except in the most extreme cases.  Just about
>everyone in those classes should have flunked the "101:Intro to UNIX" coarse.  
>
>So there are ~20 people out there, walking about with the same scrap of paper I
>have, who are mystified by the entire concept of "cd ..".  I know becuase one
>asked on the second to last day why the instructor typed that, I could barely
>contain myself.  Then someone asked her to explain it again!
As someone who has been in both roles (Besides being a college grad, I have been teaching at the University for over 2 years and for IvyTech State College for almost 2)..I can validate what you are saying here.  The CIS Chairperson for Davenport University was almost dumbfounded when one of his former students (graduate of the CIS program with MS focus) did not know how to map a printer or network drive to a UNC using the NET USE command syntax.  What is exactly being taught here, if anything?

I think you hit the nail on the head with students being _Customers_.  That's all you ever hear of as a concern "what's enrollment at for this year?".  They just want bodies (paying bodies) in seats.  They don't even have to be warm any more..in fact some corpses would be better students in some cases.  

I have a hard time teaching some courses, because I would have absolute novices and experienced professionals in the same 200 level course (like for PC Troubleshooting or Network+ certification). The admissions and advisor staff are just prodding cattle through the gates.  Many of these students should have been filtered out, instead of dragging through 5 weeks of the course before dropping.

I see other problems with the courses at the heart of their programs (at ALL educational facilities).  They actually use the textbook as a template for what to teach in the course, how to present it in the course, and provide an agenda as to what should happen where.  Why is this a problem?  The textbooks are absolute trash.  Out of the 17 different courses (and some of those more than once) I have taught, only ONE has had a decent book.  By decent book, I mean the author did at least a LITTLE research into the material.  Why don't you crack open any one of the CIS books from Course Technologies (from Thompson Learning)--(ehem, they will probably read this note and never pay me again to review).  Their books are utterly crap.  The authors have no real world experience and happen to work as faculty at some community college (a position they got not on merit but out of lack of other applicants) or they interned at some _consulting_ firm.  On page 18 of the PC repair book (even at th
e 3rd edition, enhanced--which is like the 4th or 5th release) they show an example of an expansion card in a mobo.  Take a close look and its a SoundBlaster PCI 128 jammed into a frickin' ISA slot!!!  Their 3rd edition claims that because of CAV (constant angular velocity), the inside of a CDROM travels faster than the outside edge.  Hello!! a 13 year old understands that the larger circumference traveling a larger distance in the same amount of time = greater velocity.  Page after page of incompetence.

Yes, I know to tell them to highlight that section with the Black magic marker and pencil in the TRUTH, but most of the staff I have come in contact with are just drones with some sort of degree (many times in an unrelated field) that read the book and use the stupid PPT presentations.  Basically, they READ the books to the student with no real-world insight or experience.  How do we expect a student to learn in this kind of environment?

The books are many times inadequate and instructors _can_ be incompetent.

The certification tracks are the WORST!  The point is to focus a student to memorize as much techno babble and then mentally PUKE it out the day of the exam.  Of course this works (I used this method to get my Insurance and Securitites (investment) licenses).  Yes, I did learn a LITTLE, but I learned much more working in the field after the paper said I was qualified (which I was NOT).

Please realize that it isn't just CIS!! I saw it first hand in Securities and Insurance.  When I was NatSci in College (premed), kids I had to explain Organic Chemistry to were getting better grades than me without UNDERSTANDING the material.

The flaw is in the design of our educational institutions.  Not only are we teaching using ineffective methods, but we also FAIL to teach at younger levels important topics that are much more valuable in life.  How about teach kids how to save and not spend money?  Why don't we give them the tools to become emotional giants that choose not to cheat on their income taxes or to murder because they care and respect others (not out of fear of prosecution).  Teach kids that whatever they want to become is noble and important whether it is a teacher or a garbage man, because we need them all.

The tip of the problem may be seen in CIS programs, but imagine everything else we should fix first.

Randall Perry
www.domain-logic.com