If I became President of the United States...

jryantech

What would be the first thing you would do?

I would demand we change our education system.

Out of my entire Computer Science A.A. degree I have 2 courses that actually have to do with Computers. All the others are English, Maths, Humanities, Speeches, etc.

Now I understand when I transfer to a University I will have my next 2 years be nothing but classes that deal with Computers. But I mean come on... 2 out of my 4 years in college will have classes that will help me with my career.

Honesty if it was not for certifications and self study the only thing I could be learning right now would be Biology, Humanities and something about Economics

tiersten

Schools and colleges will make you do various subjects so you get a well rounded education. They're not just being crap and forcing you to do stuff because they don't have enough courses.

jryantech

tiersten wrote:

Schools and colleges will make you do various subjects so you get a well rounded education. They're not just being crap and forcing you to do stuff because they don't have enough courses.

I believe the well rounded education should come from High School(Haha I made a joke)...

I mean I do not mind 1 or 2 semesters of various subjects to prove you understand concepts.

Obviously if you failed horribly on a CPT or SAT then yes you should be required to take more semesters of various subjects until your on "College Level"...

I don't know I'm just venting at how much time and money I feel I have wasted these last 4 semesters in college.

Although it will pay off when I get into my last 2 years...

LarryDaMan

jryantech wrote:

Although it will pay off when I get into my last 2 years...

I have a degree and I recommend that everyone get one, but I hope you're not expecting doors just to fall open because you have one.

jryantech

LarryDaMan wrote:

jryantech wrote:

Although it will pay off when I get into my last 2 years...

I have a degree and I recommend that everyone get one, but I hope you're not expecting doors just to fall open because you have one.

Haha I do not expect the door to just open. But I'll definitely have a hammer to knock on it with

And you quoted me out of context, The "pay off" is that I will have classes that contain to Computer Science for once.

Also the point of this post is not to get into the discussion of whether or not degrees will open doors btw...

LarryDaMan

jryantech wrote:

Also the point of this post is not to get into the discussion of whether or not degrees will open doors btw...

If I was President, I would let someone make any point they wanted to in a thread.

zen master

LarryDaMan wrote:

jryantech wrote:

Also the point of this post is not to get into the discussion of whether or not degrees will open doors btw...

If I was President, I would let someone make any point they wanted to in a thread.

Well played Larry. But honestly the degree vs. no degree debate is a ticking ...

GT-Rob

If I were president, I would do what the kid in LarryDaMan's avatar is doing.

Aldur

I have to agree with jrayn on this one. In a BS degree you spend 1/2 of your time at the college doing generals... Now I understand the idea behind a well rounded education but c'mon 2 years worth of stuff that will have no effect with your job that you plan on getting! It would be one thing if it was free, but you have to shell out a butt load of cash for these almost worthless classes.

I'm almost done with my BS degree and I can honestly say that the 2 years of generals that was crammed down me was almost a complete waste. Did I enjoy learning about different people and places of the world, sure did, is it going to help me in my job, not a chance. If I want to learn about far off places I'll watch it on the discovery channel...

Now before I get flammed for this post I do beleive that a well rounded education is important, the things I learned in a few economics classes were very helpful. But I don't believe it takes 2 years, that you pay dearly for at a time in your life where you have little to no cash, to have a well rounded edu.

It just seems like to me things could be done a whole lot better, thats all.

hypnotoad

I am a strong believer in getting a college education. That being said, I am also scared shitless of the idea of some people getting a college education.

As a whole, K12 education leaves a lot to be desired and higher education is slipping right behind it. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. The first time I saw a student's ACT scores, they had a 10, and I called the computer center to make sure it wasn't an error.

People work in education (in theory and practice) their whole lives and never find the right answer to the question, "What do we teach to people and how do we do it?" We've been trying to answer this question for 2400 years.

It starts with YOU -- enjoy your classes in biology and history and economics and whatever red-tape they give you. You are doing yourself a huge favor by enduring this.

Aldur

hypnotoad wrote:

It starts with YOU -- enjoy your classes in biology and history and economics and whatever red-tape they give you. You are doing yourself a huge favor by enduring this.

Well said, these are hoops you have to jump through, when your done you'll be glad you did it.

dynamik

This thread is getting too serious. Here's something to lighten the mood (and it's almost on-topic).

jryantech

LarryDaMan wrote:

jryantech wrote:

Also the point of this post is not to get into the discussion of whether or not degrees will open doors btw...

If I was President, I would let someone make any point they wanted to in a thread.

I never said you could not make any point you wanted too
I just said what you brought up was not the point of this thread... feel free to make another thread outside this one about whether degrees automatically open doors or not.

Some good points have been made guys, I completely agree with you hypnotoad. It is just as Aldur said... Two years seems a bit excessive and as I stated if your SAT ACT or CPT scores are **** you deserve the extra semesters of pre-college courses.

wat08

Be careful what you wish for...

I was once a wide-eyed computer science student and I quickly realized that Computer Science IS math, it IS algorithms, it IS computation. I got through it eventually but hated every second of it. Oddly enough, the electives I chose were the only thing that allowed me to salvage my sanity.

Danny_1983

I'd get so drunk that i passed out

tiersten

wat08 wrote:

Be careful what you wish for...

I was once a wide-eyed computer science student and I quickly realized that Computer Science IS math, it IS algorithms, it IS computation. I got through it eventually but hated every second of it. Oddly enough, the electives I chose were the only thing that allowed me to salvage my sanity.

Yup. People assume that its all programming or just messing around with a computer but majority as you said is theory. Quite a few people got a nasty surprise with that when I did my degrees.

You're going to be writing lots of reports and making presentations as well at university and most probably beyond so don't ignore those english and speech classes. Economics is how the world is run so always good to know something about it.

wat08

tiersten wrote:

Economics is how the world is run so always good to know something about it.

So very true. I think an economics minor complements a CS degree nicely since it'll give you a heads up if you ever decide to pursue a MBA or other business role.

Darthn3ss

... on topic.

If i were president, I'd actually be a brutal dictator.

rfult001

If I were president....free health care, free education, free food, no debt...yep, we'd probably be completely screwed.

Aldur

rfult001 wrote:

If I were president....free health care, free education, free food, no debt...yep, we'd probably be completely screwed.

haha

but seriously your right, we'd all be screwed if the gov't provided all those. They would be substandard quality and then we would have no money of our own because taxes would be so high to pay for these programs...

sounds like bliss to me!

Darthn3ss

Aldur wrote:

rfult001 wrote:

If I were president....free health care, free education, free food, no debt...yep, we'd probably be completely screwed.

haha

but seriously your right, we'd all be screwed if the gov't provided all those. They would be substandard quality and then we would have no money of our own because taxes would be so high to pay for these programs...

sounds like bliss to me!

sounds familiar.

mikej412

If I were president I'd point out that people could do an A.S instead of an A.A and get more courses related to their degree field. And I'd also point out that you can usually test out of a lot of the low level prerequisites and just take almost all technical courses if you just do a "Certificate Program."

Vogon Poet

I would declare our national language to be Klingon.
Our flag would be changed to a solid mellow color of sky blue.
Wood furniture would be illegal.
No foreign aid would be sent to any country whose national sport is soccer.

Aldur

Vogon Poet wrote:

I would declare our national language to be Klingon.
Our flag would be changed to a solid mellow color of sky blue.
Wood furniture would be illegal.
No foreign aid would be sent to any country whose national sport is soccer.

I'm all for making the national language to be Klingon

rfult001

batlh Daqawlu'taH.

jryantech

mikej412 wrote:

If I were president I'd point out that people could do an A.S instead of an A.A and get more courses related to their degree field. And I'd also point out that you can usually test out of a lot of the low level prerequisites and just take almost all technical courses if you just do a "Certificate Program."

I'd totally love to do this if the A.S. would be good at transferring to Universities.

I'm currently doing both my A.A. and A.S., the A.S. alone will not get you to Junior level at a University. Actually most universities will only accept you if you have an A.A. and a decent GPA with it.

Darthn3ss

maybe SC is defferent, but you can take an AS (associates in science) degree at a 2 year college here and as long as you meet the entrance requirements you can get in to pretty much any school.


The AA/AS is 100% gen-ed and you take the technical courses at the university you transfer to.

sprkymrk

If I were president, I would make it a law that Walmart must not be allowed to install 50 registers and only have 3 lanes open at a time.

If I were president, I would make coffee our national drink. Starbucks would get government subsidies in order to lower their prices for everyone.

If I were president, I would never mow another lawn.

If I were president, I would make it a federal crime to travel slow in the left lane.

If I were president, I would make every Friday "pizza day" at all work places throughout the US.

If I were president, I would have them remove the braille from drive-up ATM machines.

LarryDaMan

sprkymrk wrote:

If I were president, I would make it a law that Walmart must not be allowed to install 50 registers and only have 3 lanes open at a time.

If I were president, I would make coffee our national drink. Starbucks would get government subsidies in order to lower their prices for everyone.

If I were president, I would never mow another lawn.

If I were president, I would make it a federal crime to travel slow in the left lane.

If I were president, I would make every Friday "pizza day" at all work places throughout the US.

If I were president, I would have them remove the braille from drive-up ATM machines.

Good enough for me. sprkymrk for President! I will write you in, seriously I might... I am not sold on either of our choices.

ScottyPLo

What if we just replaced all the Lawns in America with Astroturf not the cheep stuff the nice stuff that auctually looks like grass then noone would ever have to mow the lawn again

BeaverC32

Vogon Poet wrote:

No foreign aid would be sent to any country whose national sport is soccer.

The smartest thing that has been said on these forums for a while now