good post I cannot agree much with
‘Anyone can be a programmer.’

I know many people that just couldn’t become C++ programmers

Tihomir,
dev-the-web.com

However, todays world doesn’t need programmers who know calculus when it comes to developing most software, whats needed is creativity and communication skills. Being able to come up with creative solutions to business problems and communicating the solution in English to the stakeholder is just as important to ones leet programming skills.

My school requires discrete math to taken before any CS classes, and 3 semesters of Calculus for upper division courses.

I am not a fair-weather fan, but I can only be a cheerleader for so long, and if the team isn’t shaping up as they should or doesn’t put forth the effort to do so, why should I continue to cheer?

The dilemma occurs because I see the slow erosion of a downward progression into an absolute dead-end for some students. But in today’s “touchy-feely,” “I’m Okay, You’re Okay,” “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t” mentality is making me question my value as an instructor. If you’re plain f**cking stupid, why is it my fault? Yet, I feel I need to do more – something I’m over-looking, some teaching technique that I have yet to try to help flip on the light switch.

There is an old saying you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. As a joke one time, I modified this to say, “You can lead a student to class, but you can’t make him think.”

It’s true. I could discuss, cognition, meta-cognition, Bloom taxonomies, cultural diversity, learning styles, assessments, and other pedagogical psychobabble until I was blue in the face, but then I would be made to feel bad about it, because some fucknut from Harvard going for his doctorate in Education did a study. There are lies, damn lies, and then statistics!!

Like you – I am a push over. And then only after the rape has occurred and the perpetrator is gone do you mumble to yourself – what makes you so entitled that I should fix this for you or give you the answer?

My fear is quite founded in reality – some people (mainly those who feel entitlement and disguise it as helplessness) know how to work the system – and once slighted – would have no qualms at going to the powers-that-be and bringing down the terror from above. So we are damned either way. If I could simply be truthful and say – “You don’t have the chops for this, maybe you should look into doing something else,” Lord knows I would. To say – “The emperor isn’t wearing any clothes,” is something the administration does not want to hear. They want the money!! All you have to do is say you have a disability and the seas will part and all will bow down to your whims. “I know I’m blind, but I want to be a photographer, and you better not tell me I can’t or I’ll sue your ass!!” This is why I keep doing what I can – this is why I lose sleep, because my reputation is on the line, once this person is released to the real-world.

There are only two things I see as a positive outcome – the lack of initiative shown in school will continue well after graduation, and the degree will ultimately secure them a job at Bunnie’s Tavern. Or, my candidness and honesty when a potential employer calls me for a reference!! Oh please, put me down as reference!!

Most programmers won’t go on to create that wolf with the pretty girl on its back, running across the screen. Most programmers move on to the cubicle farm, maybe a shared office, and spend their days receiving requirements from users, turning them into code, testing, documentation, and delivery.

Your customer has no idea what they want – regardless of what that requirements datasheet says, so a little bit of psychic power is in order as well.