Our fine educational system (was: Login on VMS)

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Sun Sep 24 19:21:14 2000

At 03:35 PM 9/24/00 -0400, Tim Harrison wrote:
>The "operating systems" instructor was telling the class that OSs can't
>reside in ROM. As he said this, I sat back, held up my Palm, and
>smiled. He didn't.

That's because you were being a smart-ass and you were wrong :-)

The PALM's OS resides in "Flash" (aka very rarely written, and non-volatile
RAM).

It is better to tell undergrads that cars do not fly, then to explain to
them that _most_ cars don't fly but some very creative types in Santa
Monica once converted a Pinto into an airplane by attaching wings and a
tail and adding a pusher prop.

I usually hear on of three reasons why people "drop out" of college:

     1) They run out of money.

         This is a legitimate excuse and typically these
         folks return when they refresh their cash supply.

     2) They get "bored because they ain't learnin' nuthin'"

         If they change to another school, or change to a
         different major and then finish college that's fine.
         If they simply leave and try to find work then when
         I interview them I know a cannot trust them to complete
         a task they get bored with. They cannot motivate themselves
         to do the necessary but distasteful things that come with
         "work."

     3) They quit to pursue an opportunity of a lifetime.

         Well if they are interviewing with me then that opportunity
         didn't work out, and if they didn't go back to school
         then I have to wonder if maybe they just weren't cut
         out for it.

The problem as I see it is that "college", unlike "high school", switches
the onus of learning from the staff to the student. Anyone that goes to
college, seeks out things to learn about, plows through the paper work and
general education requirements, and exits with a diploma is someone I will
hire over anyone who got bored an dropped out because they weren't being
taught anything. I ask them, "Why did you tolerate not learning anything?"
And they are usually pretty dumbfounded like, "Gee aren't you just supposed
to put in your 2 to 4 years and get out?"

--Chuck
Received on Sun Sep 24 2000 - 19:21:14 BST