This thread on Hacker News terrifies me

Nick Sabalausky (Abscissa) SeeWebsiteToContactMe at semitwist.com
Sun Sep 2 06:25:47 UTC 2018


On 08/31/2018 07:47 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> 
> However, many
> teachers really aren't great programmers. They aren't necessarily bad
> programmers, but unless they spent a bunch of time in industry before
> teaching, odds are that they don't have all of the software engineering
> skills that the students are going to need once they get into the field. And
> most courses aren't designed to teach students the practical skills.
This is why we really should bring back the ancient practice of 
apprenticeship, that we've mostly gotten away from.

Doesn't have to be identical to the old system in every detail, but who 
better to teach XYZ to members a new generation than those who ARE 
experts at XYZ.

Sure, teaching in and of itself is a skill, and not every domain expert 
is a good teacher. But like any skill, it can be learned. And after all: 
Who really stands a better chance at passing on expertise?:

A. Someone who already has the expertise, but isn't an expert in teaching.

B. Someone who is an expert at teaching, but doesn't posses what's being 
taught anyway.

Hint: No matter how good of a teacher you are, you can't teach what you 
don't know.

Heck, if all else fails, pair up domain experts WITH teaching experts! 
No need for any jacks-of-all-trades: When people become domain experts, 
just "apprentice" them in a secondary skill: Teaching their domain.

Sounds a heck of a lot better to me than the ridiculous current strategy 
of: Separate the entire population into "theory" (ie, Academia) and 
"practical" (ie, Industry) even though it's obvious that the 
*combination* of theory and practical is essential for any good work on 
either side. Have only the "theory" people do all the teaching for the 
next generation of BOTH "theory" and "practical" folks. Students then 
gain the "practical" side from...what, the freaking ether???? From the 
industry which doesn't care about quality, only profit??? From the 
"theory" folk that are never taught the "practical"??? From where, out 
of a magical freaking hat?!?!?


More information about the Digitalmars-d mailing list