From: Timothy Rowledge [mailto:tim at sumeru.stanford.edu]

Exactly. An awful lot of CS students seem to think that they go to 
university to learn the list of tricks needed to get a job - and 
nothing else. 

As Alan said, part of the problem is the commercial need of the 
universities (at least in the US, where money rules all and public good 
etc is completely irrelevant) to attract paying customers. 

--------------

Yep, I've been tapped to teach:

      C SC 1410-3.  Fundamentals of Computing.
	A first course in computing for those who will take
	additional computer science courses.  Covers the
	capabilities of a computer, the elements of the
	computer language C++, and basic techniques for
	solving problems using a computer.

To which I replied something along the lines of "C++?!?  Ick! - howabout we
use something a little more forgiving for an intro course like - oh I don't
know - maybe squeak?"

I got back this:

	I agree in principle re C++. In the past we've even tried Scheme. 
	Trouble is, students have to use C++ in _everything_ that follows...

	particularly the immediately following course, 2421. Thus, we really

	must use C++. No choice. Sorry.

And at least a chunk of this is driven by the EE dept wanting the students
to get C++ for writing low level hardware stuff.

Its a vicious circle.  

-Todd