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Subject:Re: Where have all the technical workers gone? From:Laurence Burrows <burrows -at- IBM -dot- NET> Date:Fri, 16 Oct 1998 19:56:03 +1000
Damien Braniff wrote:
--------------snip
Over the past few years there has been
much tinkering with the education system and people generally bemoaning
dropping standards. I think George Mena is right in that it comes down, at
least in part, to a lack of stimulation.
and...
We regularly hear employers asking for changes to the curriculum to make it
broader and more general and for certain subjects to be better promoted
(science and engineering). They claim that in many cases they simply cannot
get employees with basic skills.
--------------snip
Universities are changing their curriculum more slowly than businesses
change work practices and work flows. As well, educationalists are not
identifying all the 'threads' that are occurring in business, often
concentrating on one 'thread' because it is a shining star (web sites with
Java scripts) and ignoring the really useful but complex (data
repositories holding re-usable text/graphic/video 'chunks').
For this reason I see a steady stream of graduates with MS Word /
PowerPoint / Publisher skills, unaware that other tools are available (or
even better for the job--sorry Bruce <g>). I have been told "that's not
possible" when describing an artifact a client required, and when I said
that it was both possible and desirable, given a lecture on "if it can't be
done using MS BloB then it can't be done!" Which is a sad indictment on
both the paucity of the education system and the narrowness of thinking
revealed in it's victims :-(
My wife is a successful psychologist and is amazed at other psychologists
who cannot grasp basic business facts--the rent & utilities must be paid,
so there must be clients paying fees on time. The other psychologists will
rationalize the slow payment with "Well, this is a bad time for the client,
and I feel embarrassed asking for my fee!" A shame the landlord doesn't
see it that way...
