I used to respond to these questions with a whole course list, but you know what, just enjoy college. Play Dungeons and Dragons, go to LAN parties, eat pizza at 2 am. You have the rest of your adult life to become an amazing programmer. You don't have to walk off with your degree saying, "I'm the next Bill Gates. My programming skillza are similar to those of a ninja." You should be good at what you do. Doing a few side projects won't hurt. Finding a summer internship won't hurt. But most importantly, enjoy these four years because they go by fast.
I don't think college is something you should skip if you have the chance to go. It's four years when you learn more than just a skill set. You make friends that you'll have for the rest of your life. He might meet a special lady friend there. You become interested in things you never thought you would. There's nothing than can compare with the college experience. Plus, if he really loves video games that much, he can teach himself what he wants to know during his free time. The fact is though, for the most part, people don't really know what they want to do with their lives at 18. Most people have an idea of what they want, or some kind of direction. College will open up more possibilities for the future. And I hate to say it, but most 18 year olds don't know how to take care of themselves. College is a nice buffer time in which people figure out how to do laundry and how to use coupons at a grocery store.
I hope you are aware that The Lord of the Rings IS the sequel. Tolkien didn't write LOTR first. It came much later after he wrote almost all of the Silmarillion. He had been working his way up to that novel for years before he ever sat down to write it. His wife also added quite a lot to all of his work, though her name is often forgotten. LOTR was edited and edited until it was something people could try to read in under a month. But the fact is, Tolkien is not that type of writer. If you look at any of his other novels, he meant for the world to take LOTR slow. He wanted you to get lost in the world that he and his wife created. His books should take you years to read, and after you've read them, he wanted you to go back and read them again. At least, that is the impression I got when reading through the histories of Middle Earth. This isn't about opportunism. It's about Tolkien's world. If you don't have the patience for his novels, I don't recommend them.
I do blame Java. C is a dirty language and students aren't encouraged to do dangerous things with it. By doing dangerous things and learning from mistakes, that's the only way to learn how to program.
It sounds like you need to sit your daughter down and have an honest discussion with her about her safety. Being honest with her will communicate to her that you are treating her like an adult, and at her age, that's very important to her.
But here's the real question for you. Let's say MySpace does implement an age verifier. Can you think of one? I can. I propose that MySpace should validate users through a credit card, with a $1 sign up fee so that it shows up on the credit card statement. What happens when you open your credit card statement, and there it is... the $1 charge to MySpace? Do you cancel the account? Do you talk to your daughter about it? Do you demand her password? I'm just saying that an age verifier over the computer isn't going to be perfect, and it definitely won't be a solution to any online troubles that parents have to face. That's why I recommend you have a conversation with your daughter. There is nothing that can be put online that will protect her.
Thank you. I feel like I'm the only person on the internet that sees this very simple solution. It is just that easy. Slap in a valid credit card number, and you get an account. MySpace should also charge like $1, so that it shows up in your credit card statement. This verifies that the parents know about the account. If they don't know about it when the kid signs up, they'll know about it by the end of the month. Then, the there should be like some kind of form online or some kind of hotline or something that the parent can use to get into contact with MySpace, give them the credit card information again, and have MySpace close that account and block that credit card. Done. It doesn't seem that bad to me.
You're also going to need perfect SAT or ACT scores. If you don't have a perfect score, well I'm afraid you might not be getting into MIT. There are plenty of students who do have perfect scores (and many of them are international). It would also be helpful if you had/have a job. Colleges look at students who worked during high school as being some what more responsible than their peers. While being a leader in a lot of clubs is great, it's quality versus quantity that counts. It's great if you were the president of 5 clubs, but if you were the president of one club that started a brand new school wide volunteer program for AIDs, well that's a lot more impressive. So if you started any projects or something along those lines, advertise that.
If you haven't done an interview with some of your dream schools, I recommend it. That puts a face with your name, and the college admissions officers tend to remember you better. However, I have to agree with most of the other people here, even though I understand exactly how you feel. If you don't get into any of the schools you really wanted to, at least Carnegie Mellon University is a nice school. That was one of the schools I was considering when I was applying for schools. Also, as someone who is a junior in college, I'm going to give you a piece of advice that no one else is going to give you. Go to the cheapest school you can unless you are truly guaranteed no debt. Now that graduation is on the horizon, paying my debts sounds terrible. Plus, my college has gone up $8,000 from what I originally was told I would have to pay. My college does not lock in tuition, and the scholarships don't increase with price raises. Ask about these things! Go to a college that locks in tuition. The thing about college is, you make your own opportunities. At smaller schools, there are less options for you, but if you're really involved in your department, you can do great things.
There are also self driving robots. I actually think cars that could drive themselves (but still have a manual mode built in for those just in case situations) would be a really good idea and probably reduce the number of traffic deaths every year. I would totally invest in a self driving car... after they've been on the market for like 5 years.
Why would musicians, artists, inventors, novelists, philosophers, linguists and economists all get better as they get older, but not scientists? Unless you're a hooker or a professional athlete, age should not be a barrier.
They all get better because their crystallized intelligence develops that way. If you do the same thing over and over again, your brain does become better at it. For example, you make a mistake, your brain makes note of it (hopefully), and you learn from it. Surgeons become better and better at the surgery they perform as time goes by, but that doesn't mean they keep up to date with all of the latest techniques. The best ones do, but some are satisfied doing what they know because it works. That's your crystallized intelligence.
This isn't about people who have been working from day one toward a certain goal though. This is about suddenly switching over to a new goal when their crystallized intelligence is pretty much set. It's tough. I'm not saying it's impossible, but like I said, it's going to be a lot of hard work that some adults don't have the time for. The world isn't black and white. Some people are exceptions, and a switch over like this would be a piece of cake. For example, if you've spent the past decade programming Derive (a math program), then your math skills are as sharp as a toothpick, but if you've spend the past decade programming front end GUIs in VB, then you will need to do a lot of hard work. I'm 21 years old and taking multi variable calculus. I took a year off from math. Just one year. I have to admit, it's tough. There's a lot of trig stuff that you just plain forget because you never use it outside of a calculus classroom. If you don't have a family, money isn't a huge issue, and you pretty much have nothing to do at home but play video games, then yeah this might be a good option. If you find that all of these are issues, you're really going to have to figure out a way to make this work.
Neurologically speaking, that's not true. Most scientists do their most progressive work / research when they are under 30 years old. This is because of the differences between fluid and crystallized intelligence. People who are 40 years or older tend to rely heavily on crystallized intelligence, whereas people under 30 tend to rely heavily upon fluid intelligence.
Fluid intelligence relates to our ability to solve novel problems and is intrinsic to the functioning of Working Memory. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, refers to our accumulated knowledge and experiences and how well we can access and use these, as well as practical intelligence, or the ability to solve to deal with everyday problems and situations. more...
I'm not saying a career in science would be impossible, but you might find yourself struggling to keep up with some of the younger researchers simply because your brain isn't as open to solving new problems. Some people have an issue when it comes to a younger person being your boss. If you don't think you can handle someone younger than you directing the research or if you don't think your self esteem can handle some punk kid who just spent the past 8 years studying math solving problems that seem impossible to you, then I don't recommend it. Now, since you were a programmer, depending on what you programmed, mathematically speaking, you might be okay because your crystallized intelligence develops from what you do with your fluid intelligence. But it's going to be a lot of hard work, and you have to be absolutely sure that you have the time to devote toward this.
Honestly, if I were you, I don't think I would have put this up here... nor would I have mentioned the actual company that I worked for. They can and will use this against you in court. Trust me, they will find a way.
Yeah... caffeinated cookies to keep me going at work? I don't think so. There's no way in hell I'm putting all that fat on my hips. If I really need a pick me up that is sweet, I'll just go down to Starbucks and order a mocha frap for $7. At least then the price will deter me from doing it all the time. But other than that, a healthy diet, exercise, and plenty of rest should be enough to keep you going through the day.
Alright, I saw about 10 comments I wanted to reply to. First, I am a junior in college as a CS major and mathematics minor. Second, no, a PDA is a TERRIBLE choice. Basically, anything other than a TI is a TERRIBLE choice. Why? Because that's what you're allowed to use on standardized testing (SATs, etc). Trust me, the SATs will be the most hateful day of your entire life. Especially after you go on a college interview and they tell you, "If you raise your score 100 points, we will give you this much more money." It's a hateful day. You want your calculator for that test. While it is a great idea to plan ahead, some math departments at certain colleges require you to buy a certain calculator. My own math department requires me to have either a TI89 or a TI200. I recommend you buy a TI89. It's allowed for the SATs and ACTs as far as I know. The TI89 does everything the TI200 does, except the TI200 has a qwerty keyboard. You really don't need the keyboard. It just looks cool. You just cannot use the TI200 on any standardized testing.
I would hate to see college turn into something like a certificate program where all you are certified to do is work this one field. Chances are, in a program like the one you feel would be great, students will no longer be asked to think outside of the box. Students will take the required courses in engineering, leadership, and team work, take their internship, and then leave. If you develop a program that lets a student do what they want, and study what they want, then you offer them some real possibilities. For example, I personally am a CS major (which is a very theoretical major). I am required to take all sorts of CS classes, but I have to pick a few electives. One of the electives I've chosen is neuroscience. It's a psychology class. I learned more from this one class than any other I have ever taken. I have also been able to apply the information I received from that class to every day life conversations, some of my programs, and my neural networking class.
Plus, at the moment, a college degree from a general program means you can be taught anything. A certificate means that you can only do one thing.
That's a nice idea, but not very realistic. Yes we all want fair and equal rights, but the fact is, that's not the way life is. Women have gender roles and men have gender roles. Those roles happen to be very different. I'd like to set some realistic goals, not idealistic ones.
I have a fix. Could some company pay for my graduate school and my doctorate program too? Could I also have no obligations to work for that company in the future? Please please please! I don't have time to work 40 hours a week as a programmer, run a house, take care of my man, plan a big wedding, start a family, and go to school. I also don't have the money to do all of those things. Could it be that women who are younger look into the future and feel stressed because we have too many conflicting goals? Is it possible that a lot of women go into education at college because they see that the work hours are better suited to fit with all of their other goals? Could it be that women go into the medical field (nursing, nurse practitioner, pediatrics, basically anything but surgery or the ER) because the hours are flexible and fit the needs of their future children?
Plus several of the women have fallen victim to the family and are now part timers (all with 10+ years experience).
This one line right here expresses it all. Women have fallen victim to the family. You are wrong. For most normal women (getting back to all that genetic stuff), family is the number one priority. We aren't victims to it. We want to have a family, and we want to take care of our family. I kind of feel like this might be why I am trying to drag out my education. Maybe I know that after I'm done getting all of my lovely CS degrees, it will be time to make some real decisions. Maybe I just don't want to face the music that I cannot do everything I want to do.
Could it be that engineering has yet to really take a day, stop, and think about what kind of job will work for women? There actually happens to be one civil engineering firm in my area that has thought about this. Women with infants automatically get their own, large office. Part of the office is then set up to look like a nursery. Your hours, once your kid is in school, let you drop them off at the bus stop and pick them up from it afterwards. The company doesn't try to change women's attitudes. It recognizes that family comes first and they come second, and they work with it!
The other reason why my female peers won't do CS is because of the attitude we receive freshman year. If I hadn't been mentally prepared to overcome the challenges ahead of me, I probably would have been a math or physics major instead. They are a million times nicer to girls over there. They are desperate to have them.
Day 1: none of my professors took me seriously. When they were asking guys who already knew how to program to move into CS2, they recommended that I stay in CS1. I ended up teaching a bunch of those guys a thing or two. After freshman year, I had earned the respect of my professors and my peers though. Other girls who manage to make it through the gauntlet tend to develop the IT attitude in discussion. You have to be tough to play rough. I took a slightly different route that seemed to work out just as well. I took the, "I won't do your homework, but I will certainly show you how much better of a programmer I am while I help you with your homework," path. It worked real well. But the girls who develop that attitude don't lose it. It sticks with them forever. I don't blame them one bit though. It can be really mean, disrespectful, and degrading to be a CS female student. So for the female side, I recommend that people just hand over respect to women just like they hand it over to men.
I propose that this could also be a cause of arrogance amongst male IT people. The idea is put in their head that they are better the moment they step onto a college campus. It probably just gets worse by the time the four years there are over.
From just personal female experience, I'll say it's probably true anyway. All of the girls I know (including myself) tend to wear hoodies, sweat pants and jeans during their least fertile time. However, I don't think the findings were properly analyzed.
Instead it seems women subconsciously don their trendier clothes, more jewellery, plaster on make-up and flash more flesh when they are the most fertile moment in their monthly cycle.
I would make a very safe bet that it isn't a subconscious thing at all. It's one of those female secret things that we get, but men just cannot.
Here's a piece of advice that fits any situation in life.
Never burn your bridges.
First, if the candidate doesn't fit what you need right now, that doesn't mean things won't be different in a couple of years.
Second, you'll never know if the tables will be turned. Let's say he/she becomes the senior software engineer at some company. Your company goes all Chapter 11, and you're suddenly out of a job. This person is working with HR to do the hiring. Depending on how you treated him/her that may affect their decision (if they remember you).
Third, you don't want to be the reason why your company gets a bad reputation. Stuff gets around, fast. Let's say you interview a student fresh out of college. You give them a really hard time during their interview. They go back, have lunch with their adviser/head of the department), and tell them what happened. The adviser stops encouraging students to apply there. He/she then also tells his/her buddies at other schools. Suddenly, you're finding that entry level programmers just don't even want to bother with your company. Now, it's not going to be like a widespread pandemic, but you still don't want to give your company a bad name because you have little to no control over your personal feelings.
Finally, if the candidate just didn't work out, oh well. At least you took the high road.
Not necessarily. Facebook, probably the most commonly used social networking site used amongst college students, and it had nothing to do with sex. It was about connecting students. Today, connecting just students isn't true, unless you are like me and only allow college students to be able to even search for you. I would still say it has nothing to do with sex though. It is like a dynamic address book that people actual maintain.
Hardly. Western Civilization as we know it was shaped by the Enlightenment which was largely a rejection of religious dogma in favor of reason. The theocratic horrors of the world shaped by the bible didn't end, but they were curtailed.
What happened before the enlightenment? What happened after? History does go back farther than 300 years. And, whether you like it or not, what happened prior to the enlightenment is still important. The enlightenment lasted a very short time in the grand scheme of things. Remember, prior to the enlightenment, the church condemned most scientific research. The church is why England broke away, so that the King could divorce his wife. I would argue that is a defining moment in English history. I would also argue that England's breaking away affected its relations with France. If you studied history, you will note that there is a strong relationship between England and France. When they were at war with each other, their relationship still made an impact on how their countries were shaped. Moving on... There were religious wars between the catholics and protestants. Isabella of Spain is quite a famous figure. Joan of Arc is another. The Pope used to rule a huge part of Europe as we know it. Pretty much all of Italy all the way up to modern day Germany. That's a pretty huge influence of control. The crusades from hundreds of years ago still affect relations with the West and the middle east today. We of the western world would disagree, but people of the middle east who have been oppressed and need a scapegoat would agree. Every witch hunt was because of the bible. God condemns witches in the Old Testament.
After the enlightenment, society went through the modern era. This was a time that lasted until approximately the end of WWII. It was the offspring of the enlightenment. It emphasized freedom, reason, and logic. What happened after the modern era? Well, historians haven't picked a name for the era we live in now, but it is certainly not an era ruled by reason. The USA has moved back to religion. Look at our own president. Religion was something he emphasized to get into his position of power. The pope was in the newspaper yesterday, and the week before, and before that... yeah he still seems to be a fairly important guy. I still have friends who yell at me for not going to church... blah blah blah... I'm sure you know someone who tries to guilt you too. My one friend wanted me to hand out fliers, only I wouldn't because the fliers basically said, "Unless you give the church a lot of gold, you won't go to heaven." Many holidays that we celebrate come from the bible. If you celebrate Christmas or Easter, you are celebrating a holiday set up in the bible. These holidays are huge, consumer industries, but the foundations came from some where. Have you ever been married or been to a general wedding? Unless you are of a religion other than Christianity, chances are you either were a part or witnessed a Christian celebration, FYI. The words you speak at the wedding bind you under God, not government. There's a separate step for that. Yes, I think the bible is still a fairly influential book.
Unless you read the actual bible at least once through, then your "research" is very limited to the opinions of other people. You should also read a few more history books beyond Wikipedia and a few batched up websites. Find me something published that supports your research. At least the author had to go through a process to get a publishing house to consider it.
I highly recommend you read the Good News Bible. It is a protestant bible that gets to the point. Even though you don't believe in God, you should still read the bible at least once. It is the book that has shaped Western Civilization as we know it. By understanding it, you'll have a deeper understanding of most poems and literature. The book also provides evidence of God.:-P You cannot say there isn't any when there is a little bit; just about as much as Santa gets. I'm not saying I'm religious at all, but I do my research before I open my mouth.
Yes this is a perfect idea... And then colleges and universities should hire more CS students as TAs to teach a, "How to use your computer" class! And then we TAs get paid! Perfect!
Slashdot Mirror
I used to respond to these questions with a whole course list, but you know what, just enjoy college. Play Dungeons and Dragons, go to LAN parties, eat pizza at 2 am. You have the rest of your adult life to become an amazing programmer. You don't have to walk off with your degree saying, "I'm the next Bill Gates. My programming skillza are similar to those of a ninja." You should be good at what you do. Doing a few side projects won't hurt. Finding a summer internship won't hurt. But most importantly, enjoy these four years because they go by fast.
I don't think college is something you should skip if you have the chance to go. It's four years when you learn more than just a skill set. You make friends that you'll have for the rest of your life. He might meet a special lady friend there. You become interested in things you never thought you would. There's nothing than can compare with the college experience. Plus, if he really loves video games that much, he can teach himself what he wants to know during his free time. The fact is though, for the most part, people don't really know what they want to do with their lives at 18. Most people have an idea of what they want, or some kind of direction. College will open up more possibilities for the future. And I hate to say it, but most 18 year olds don't know how to take care of themselves. College is a nice buffer time in which people figure out how to do laundry and how to use coupons at a grocery store.
I hope you are aware that The Lord of the Rings IS the sequel. Tolkien didn't write LOTR first. It came much later after he wrote almost all of the Silmarillion. He had been working his way up to that novel for years before he ever sat down to write it. His wife also added quite a lot to all of his work, though her name is often forgotten. LOTR was edited and edited until it was something people could try to read in under a month. But the fact is, Tolkien is not that type of writer. If you look at any of his other novels, he meant for the world to take LOTR slow. He wanted you to get lost in the world that he and his wife created. His books should take you years to read, and after you've read them, he wanted you to go back and read them again. At least, that is the impression I got when reading through the histories of Middle Earth. This isn't about opportunism. It's about Tolkien's world. If you don't have the patience for his novels, I don't recommend them.
Micro-controllers
I do blame Java. C is a dirty language and students aren't encouraged to do dangerous things with it. By doing dangerous things and learning from mistakes, that's the only way to learn how to program.
It sounds like you need to sit your daughter down and have an honest discussion with her about her safety. Being honest with her will communicate to her that you are treating her like an adult, and at her age, that's very important to her.
But here's the real question for you. Let's say MySpace does implement an age verifier. Can you think of one? I can. I propose that MySpace should validate users through a credit card, with a $1 sign up fee so that it shows up on the credit card statement. What happens when you open your credit card statement, and there it is... the $1 charge to MySpace? Do you cancel the account? Do you talk to your daughter about it? Do you demand her password? I'm just saying that an age verifier over the computer isn't going to be perfect, and it definitely won't be a solution to any online troubles that parents have to face. That's why I recommend you have a conversation with your daughter. There is nothing that can be put online that will protect her.
Thank you. I feel like I'm the only person on the internet that sees this very simple solution. It is just that easy. Slap in a valid credit card number, and you get an account. MySpace should also charge like $1, so that it shows up in your credit card statement. This verifies that the parents know about the account. If they don't know about it when the kid signs up, they'll know about it by the end of the month. Then, the there should be like some kind of form online or some kind of hotline or something that the parent can use to get into contact with MySpace, give them the credit card information again, and have MySpace close that account and block that credit card. Done. It doesn't seem that bad to me.
You're also going to need perfect SAT or ACT scores. If you don't have a perfect score, well I'm afraid you might not be getting into MIT. There are plenty of students who do have perfect scores (and many of them are international). It would also be helpful if you had/have a job. Colleges look at students who worked during high school as being some what more responsible than their peers. While being a leader in a lot of clubs is great, it's quality versus quantity that counts. It's great if you were the president of 5 clubs, but if you were the president of one club that started a brand new school wide volunteer program for AIDs, well that's a lot more impressive. So if you started any projects or something along those lines, advertise that.
If you haven't done an interview with some of your dream schools, I recommend it. That puts a face with your name, and the college admissions officers tend to remember you better. However, I have to agree with most of the other people here, even though I understand exactly how you feel. If you don't get into any of the schools you really wanted to, at least Carnegie Mellon University is a nice school. That was one of the schools I was considering when I was applying for schools. Also, as someone who is a junior in college, I'm going to give you a piece of advice that no one else is going to give you. Go to the cheapest school you can unless you are truly guaranteed no debt. Now that graduation is on the horizon, paying my debts sounds terrible. Plus, my college has gone up $8,000 from what I originally was told I would have to pay. My college does not lock in tuition, and the scholarships don't increase with price raises. Ask about these things! Go to a college that locks in tuition. The thing about college is, you make your own opportunities. At smaller schools, there are less options for you, but if you're really involved in your department, you can do great things.
There are also self driving robots. I actually think cars that could drive themselves (but still have a manual mode built in for those just in case situations) would be a really good idea and probably reduce the number of traffic deaths every year. I would totally invest in a self driving car... after they've been on the market for like 5 years.
They all get better because their crystallized intelligence develops that way. If you do the same thing over and over again, your brain does become better at it. For example, you make a mistake, your brain makes note of it (hopefully), and you learn from it. Surgeons become better and better at the surgery they perform as time goes by, but that doesn't mean they keep up to date with all of the latest techniques. The best ones do, but some are satisfied doing what they know because it works. That's your crystallized intelligence.
This isn't about people who have been working from day one toward a certain goal though. This is about suddenly switching over to a new goal when their crystallized intelligence is pretty much set. It's tough. I'm not saying it's impossible, but like I said, it's going to be a lot of hard work that some adults don't have the time for. The world isn't black and white. Some people are exceptions, and a switch over like this would be a piece of cake. For example, if you've spent the past decade programming Derive (a math program), then your math skills are as sharp as a toothpick, but if you've spend the past decade programming front end GUIs in VB, then you will need to do a lot of hard work. I'm 21 years old and taking multi variable calculus. I took a year off from math. Just one year. I have to admit, it's tough. There's a lot of trig stuff that you just plain forget because you never use it outside of a calculus classroom. If you don't have a family, money isn't a huge issue, and you pretty much have nothing to do at home but play video games, then yeah this might be a good option. If you find that all of these are issues, you're really going to have to figure out a way to make this work.
Good luck! I hope you find what makes you happy.
I'm not saying a career in science would be impossible, but you might find yourself struggling to keep up with some of the younger researchers simply because your brain isn't as open to solving new problems. Some people have an issue when it comes to a younger person being your boss. If you don't think you can handle someone younger than you directing the research or if you don't think your self esteem can handle some punk kid who just spent the past 8 years studying math solving problems that seem impossible to you, then I don't recommend it. Now, since you were a programmer, depending on what you programmed, mathematically speaking, you might be okay because your crystallized intelligence develops from what you do with your fluid intelligence. But it's going to be a lot of hard work, and you have to be absolutely sure that you have the time to devote toward this.
Honestly, if I were you, I don't think I would have put this up here... nor would I have mentioned the actual company that I worked for. They can and will use this against you in court. Trust me, they will find a way.
Yeah... caffeinated cookies to keep me going at work? I don't think so. There's no way in hell I'm putting all that fat on my hips. If I really need a pick me up that is sweet, I'll just go down to Starbucks and order a mocha frap for $7. At least then the price will deter me from doing it all the time. But other than that, a healthy diet, exercise, and plenty of rest should be enough to keep you going through the day.
Alright, I saw about 10 comments I wanted to reply to. First, I am a junior in college as a CS major and mathematics minor. Second, no, a PDA is a TERRIBLE choice. Basically, anything other than a TI is a TERRIBLE choice. Why? Because that's what you're allowed to use on standardized testing (SATs, etc). Trust me, the SATs will be the most hateful day of your entire life. Especially after you go on a college interview and they tell you, "If you raise your score 100 points, we will give you this much more money." It's a hateful day. You want your calculator for that test. While it is a great idea to plan ahead, some math departments at certain colleges require you to buy a certain calculator. My own math department requires me to have either a TI89 or a TI200. I recommend you buy a TI89. It's allowed for the SATs and ACTs as far as I know. The TI89 does everything the TI200 does, except the TI200 has a qwerty keyboard. You really don't need the keyboard. It just looks cool. You just cannot use the TI200 on any standardized testing.
I would hate to see college turn into something like a certificate program where all you are certified to do is work this one field. Chances are, in a program like the one you feel would be great, students will no longer be asked to think outside of the box. Students will take the required courses in engineering, leadership, and team work, take their internship, and then leave. If you develop a program that lets a student do what they want, and study what they want, then you offer them some real possibilities. For example, I personally am a CS major (which is a very theoretical major). I am required to take all sorts of CS classes, but I have to pick a few electives. One of the electives I've chosen is neuroscience. It's a psychology class. I learned more from this one class than any other I have ever taken. I have also been able to apply the information I received from that class to every day life conversations, some of my programs, and my neural networking class.
Plus, at the moment, a college degree from a general program means you can be taught anything. A certificate means that you can only do one thing.
Amazingly, that looks just like what bars and restaurants are supposed to do to when someone who looks under 30 asks for a drink. Nothing new.
That's a nice idea, but not very realistic. Yes we all want fair and equal rights, but the fact is, that's not the way life is. Women have gender roles and men have gender roles. Those roles happen to be very different. I'd like to set some realistic goals, not idealistic ones.
This one line right here expresses it all. Women have fallen victim to the family. You are wrong. For most normal women (getting back to all that genetic stuff), family is the number one priority. We aren't victims to it. We want to have a family, and we want to take care of our family. I kind of feel like this might be why I am trying to drag out my education. Maybe I know that after I'm done getting all of my lovely CS degrees, it will be time to make some real decisions. Maybe I just don't want to face the music that I cannot do everything I want to do.
Could it be that engineering has yet to really take a day, stop, and think about what kind of job will work for women? There actually happens to be one civil engineering firm in my area that has thought about this. Women with infants automatically get their own, large office. Part of the office is then set up to look like a nursery. Your hours, once your kid is in school, let you drop them off at the bus stop and pick them up from it afterwards. The company doesn't try to change women's attitudes. It recognizes that family comes first and they come second, and they work with it!
The other reason why my female peers won't do CS is because of the attitude we receive freshman year. If I hadn't been mentally prepared to overcome the challenges ahead of me, I probably would have been a math or physics major instead. They are a million times nicer to girls over there. They are desperate to have them.
Day 1: none of my professors took me seriously. When they were asking guys who already knew how to program to move into CS2, they recommended that I stay in CS1. I ended up teaching a bunch of those guys a thing or two. After freshman year, I had earned the respect of my professors and my peers though. Other girls who manage to make it through the gauntlet tend to develop the IT attitude in discussion. You have to be tough to play rough. I took a slightly different route that seemed to work out just as well. I took the, "I won't do your homework, but I will certainly show you how much better of a programmer I am while I help you with your homework," path. It worked real well. But the girls who develop that attitude don't lose it. It sticks with them forever. I don't blame them one bit though. It can be really mean, disrespectful, and degrading to be a CS female student. So for the female side, I recommend that people just hand over respect to women just like they hand it over to men.
I propose that this could also be a cause of arrogance amongst male IT people. The idea is put in their head that they are better the moment they step onto a college campus. It probably just gets worse by the time the four years there are over.
Here's a piece of advice that fits any situation in life.
Never burn your bridges.
First, if the candidate doesn't fit what you need right now, that doesn't mean things won't be different in a couple of years.
Second, you'll never know if the tables will be turned. Let's say he/she becomes the senior software engineer at some company. Your company goes all Chapter 11, and you're suddenly out of a job. This person is working with HR to do the hiring. Depending on how you treated him/her that may affect their decision (if they remember you).
Third, you don't want to be the reason why your company gets a bad reputation. Stuff gets around, fast. Let's say you interview a student fresh out of college. You give them a really hard time during their interview. They go back, have lunch with their adviser/head of the department), and tell them what happened. The adviser stops encouraging students to apply there. He/she then also tells his/her buddies at other schools. Suddenly, you're finding that entry level programmers just don't even want to bother with your company. Now, it's not going to be like a widespread pandemic, but you still don't want to give your company a bad name because you have little to no control over your personal feelings.
Finally, if the candidate just didn't work out, oh well. At least you took the high road.
Not necessarily. Facebook, probably the most commonly used social networking site used amongst college students, and it had nothing to do with sex. It was about connecting students. Today, connecting just students isn't true, unless you are like me and only allow college students to be able to even search for you. I would still say it has nothing to do with sex though. It is like a dynamic address book that people actual maintain.
Hardly. Western Civilization as we know it was shaped by the Enlightenment which was largely a rejection of religious dogma in favor of reason. The theocratic horrors of the world shaped by the bible didn't end, but they were curtailed.
What happened before the enlightenment? What happened after? History does go back farther than 300 years. And, whether you like it or not, what happened prior to the enlightenment is still important. The enlightenment lasted a very short time in the grand scheme of things. Remember, prior to the enlightenment, the church condemned most scientific research. The church is why England broke away, so that the King could divorce his wife. I would argue that is a defining moment in English history. I would also argue that England's breaking away affected its relations with France. If you studied history, you will note that there is a strong relationship between England and France. When they were at war with each other, their relationship still made an impact on how their countries were shaped. Moving on... There were religious wars between the catholics and protestants. Isabella of Spain is quite a famous figure. Joan of Arc is another. The Pope used to rule a huge part of Europe as we know it. Pretty much all of Italy all the way up to modern day Germany. That's a pretty huge influence of control. The crusades from hundreds of years ago still affect relations with the West and the middle east today. We of the western world would disagree, but people of the middle east who have been oppressed and need a scapegoat would agree. Every witch hunt was because of the bible. God condemns witches in the Old Testament.
After the enlightenment, society went through the modern era. This was a time that lasted until approximately the end of WWII. It was the offspring of the enlightenment. It emphasized freedom, reason, and logic. What happened after the modern era? Well, historians haven't picked a name for the era we live in now, but it is certainly not an era ruled by reason. The USA has moved back to religion. Look at our own president. Religion was something he emphasized to get into his position of power. The pope was in the newspaper yesterday, and the week before, and before that... yeah he still seems to be a fairly important guy. I still have friends who yell at me for not going to church... blah blah blah... I'm sure you know someone who tries to guilt you too. My one friend wanted me to hand out fliers, only I wouldn't because the fliers basically said, "Unless you give the church a lot of gold, you won't go to heaven." Many holidays that we celebrate come from the bible. If you celebrate Christmas or Easter, you are celebrating a holiday set up in the bible. These holidays are huge, consumer industries, but the foundations came from some where. Have you ever been married or been to a general wedding? Unless you are of a religion other than Christianity, chances are you either were a part or witnessed a Christian celebration, FYI. The words you speak at the wedding bind you under God, not government. There's a separate step for that. Yes, I think the bible is still a fairly influential book.
Unless you read the actual bible at least once through, then your "research" is very limited to the opinions of other people. You should also read a few more history books beyond Wikipedia and a few batched up websites. Find me something published that supports your research. At least the author had to go through a process to get a publishing house to consider it.
I highly recommend you read the Good News Bible. It is a protestant bible that gets to the point. Even though you don't believe in God, you should still read the bible at least once. It is the book that has shaped Western Civilization as we know it. By understanding it, you'll have a deeper understanding of most poems and literature. The book also provides evidence of God. :-P You cannot say there isn't any when there is a little bit; just about as much as Santa gets. I'm not saying I'm religious at all, but I do my research before I open my mouth.
Yes this is a perfect idea... And then colleges and universities should hire more CS students as TAs to teach a, "How to use your computer" class! And then we TAs get paid! Perfect!