This picture is made by an engineering student who wants to show the contrast between the knowledge learnt in university and applied software in work. Engineering college is thought as a difficult, complicated and tough one. Most of the students are struggling with time-consuming and hard courses for at least four years. As shown in the left part of image, for a computer science engineer, he needs to learn UNIX, C++, JAVA and NET in the four years. I have learnt JAVA before and actually it really needs a lot logic thinking and repeated tests for programs. By contrast, on the right side, with so many high-level language programming skills, the student just use EXCEL in the rest of life after graduation. And EXCEL can be understood and well used even by business school students. This engineering student using strong comparison arouse our sympathy on them--they are always computer in stead of sunshine in university! Furthermore, it shows a kind of ironic phenomenon in general--few of what we learn in university can be used in the future. In addition, a few people can find a matched job after graduation. But, on the other hand, no one knows if these "useless" software can be useful in the future. For instance, job promotion requires UNIX. And university also requires GEC course, which can cultivate breadth in knowledge. That seems make university education a little meaningful.
I think this image appeals to most of us here. If you've ever been sitting in class wondering, "When will I actually be applying this to my job?", then welcome to college. I feel like a majority of the material I am exposed to goes in one ear, sticks around for a while until after the final, and then quietly exits to make way for things I actually find interesting and enjoyable. It is no doubt easier to absorb material you find interesting and applicable to your own life. Deriving equations serves no conceivable purpose in my day to day life, so it makes sense that the information won't stick for long. The point Piggy is making is very relevant for all of us. At what point is the lack of efficiency created through taking irrelevant classes crossing the line? Sure, an engineering student might one day be required to use his java or c++ skills, but that knowledge won't develop into actual skill until experience is gained. The performance you put out in any job depend more on your experience, not the grades you earned in college.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this picture shows a general concern of university, I think this picture exaggrates too much and omits some facts. To my knowledge most software engineers duties are giving instructions to programmer, or participate in the development of softwares. All those works can't be done without knowledge of programming language. But this maybe true in some other fields like a highschool math teacher who was major in math. Indeed, this picture brings a controversial point that whether it is worthwhile to waste time to go to college and learn those knowledge which won't be used in the future. Although the main function of university is to teach students skills that can make it easier to get a job, I think there is another more important thing university teach us is the meaning and ability of learning. When I study math, I often wonder that which part of my life will benefit from those knowledges. Later I realized that the more tough knowledge I learn, the higher position of thought will be, and the clearer I can understand the easy knowledge. It's just like look down the earth at the top of hill. So I think although it seems students learned many useless knowledge in university, actually what they learned will bring them tangible or intangible benefits to some extent sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteThis picture showcases a problem that has been widely discussed as a cause of concern with college grads. Many of the skills they are required to learn in college are not utilized in many of the professions they end up in. Some would say it is important to be knowledgeable in multiple areas, while others would argue that it is useless. I think that if you truly are not using many of these skills taught in your profession, then you paying for a very expensive luxury.
ReplyDeleteI think that this picture is really interesting, since I'm a Computer Science major. I think that it's somewhat true, yet it's really exaggerated. Although technology advances really fast, the languages used are still similar and are used by many companies so the information isn't 100% useless. I think that colleges can only prepare you so much. In the "real world", you have to learn a lot for your job a good amount of what you learn will be way different from what you learned in college and I think that the picture just exaggerates the situation.
ReplyDeleteBeing a CSE major, I believe that this image exaggerates the situation as Mingxin Tan said above. I believe that yes, the education system of universities exposes students to a lot of languages which are not that important for real life jobs, but on the other hand exposure to these languages and courses open many different career options if the student is willing to study more. This is one of the main advantages of teaching all these languages so the student can make a informed decision if he pursues higher studies. Your question "University Education is Useful or Useless?" has a very clear answer that yes it is useful though some minor changes like emphasizing more on the languages actually used in real life jobs can make it even more effective.
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