interesting point
Discussion
saw this, thought it made interesting reading.
College funding pressures leaving part-time students in the cold: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4567643.stm> . Something very noticeable to someone with experience teaching and learning in America is how few UK professionals continue their education--this won't help. See the following for comment.
Terry Pratchett is a popular fantasy author of the Diskworld series, and has been writing a series within the series in collaboration with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen on science. The latest volume is The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch. It came out a bit later than originally planned, but it was worth waiting for. The book examines Darwin's life and work as it might appear to a man from Discworld. Towards the end, the authors go off on a short side trip to examine what in the Victorian period made such a difference for us in the next century, and also to try to understand the current English malaise.
Identification of just what the English malaise consists of varies from author to author. Pratchett, Stewart, and Cohen suggest, based on an idea of Owen Harry, that it is 'a lack of sergeants'. During the Victorian period there was a way for labourers to educate themselves in practical arts to become artisans. Today, this practical career path no longer exists (and industry is complaining loudly). The UK now lacks people with experience in organising the doing of things. In business, we call this middle management; in the army, we call these people sergeants (respectfully). Having middle management or sergeants isn't very efficient, but it is effective and very robust. Training middle management or sergeants didn't involve the universities, which then (and again today) specialised in non-technical and non-scientific subjects (which are cheaper to teach), but was the core of the UK's Victorian success in industry and commerce.
The UK malaise has a number of symptoms, including: 1. A Government where most of the ministers have never managed anything larger than a corner shop. They may have experience leading but none managing, and they have absolutely no understanding of how to make things happen. 2. A society where there are also very few trained 'generals'. Almost everyone is either a private or a non-technical specialist. 3. Industry and commerce which finds the product of the schools and universities a poor match for their manpower needs. 4. Universities with a greater commitment to keeping staff employed than to covering material of practical value. 5. Universities that are forced by government spending priorities to shut down technical and scientific courses. (Labs where you learn how to make things happen are expensive to run. This isn't limited to the physical sciences and engineering.)
My experience with this system is representative. I am a research neuroscientist trained to be a modelling resource in an interdisciplinary team. There is little call for my skills in the UK, but on the other hand, I'm usually working on three or four grant proposals, supervising a number of research students, and providing biological expertise for a collection of engineers working on biomimetic robotics. I make things happen, and as a result my teaching load is remarkable. I run the following modules (corresponding to US courses): 1. Advanced Object-Oriented Design, a core senior-level computing two-semester module where I emphasise entry-level programming skills. 2. E-Commerce, a pair of modules that teach information systems security management and e-commerce management. Emphasis: making things happen. 3. Cognitive Neuroscience, an MSc-level module for students in artificial intelligence--my real joy. 4. Intelligent Systems Programming, an MSc-level module to teach practical programming to students in artificial intelligence 5. Information Systems Security Engineering, an MSc-level module for students in Software and Network Engineering.
I am also currently organising an MSc course in Security Engineering. Few of the lecturers nominated for that programme have any security expertise. Note the pattern--I am overloaded with teaching practical course material on how to make things happen.
No sergeants... And no generals...
-- "The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is." (Tom Vogl)
Harry Erwin
===========================
College funding pressures leaving part-time students in the cold: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4567643.stm> . Something very noticeable to someone with experience teaching and learning in America is how few UK professionals continue their education--this won't help. See the following for comment.
Terry Pratchett is a popular fantasy author of the Diskworld series, and has been writing a series within the series in collaboration with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen on science. The latest volume is The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch. It came out a bit later than originally planned, but it was worth waiting for. The book examines Darwin's life and work as it might appear to a man from Discworld. Towards the end, the authors go off on a short side trip to examine what in the Victorian period made such a difference for us in the next century, and also to try to understand the current English malaise.
Identification of just what the English malaise consists of varies from author to author. Pratchett, Stewart, and Cohen suggest, based on an idea of Owen Harry, that it is 'a lack of sergeants'. During the Victorian period there was a way for labourers to educate themselves in practical arts to become artisans. Today, this practical career path no longer exists (and industry is complaining loudly). The UK now lacks people with experience in organising the doing of things. In business, we call this middle management; in the army, we call these people sergeants (respectfully). Having middle management or sergeants isn't very efficient, but it is effective and very robust. Training middle management or sergeants didn't involve the universities, which then (and again today) specialised in non-technical and non-scientific subjects (which are cheaper to teach), but was the core of the UK's Victorian success in industry and commerce.
The UK malaise has a number of symptoms, including: 1. A Government where most of the ministers have never managed anything larger than a corner shop. They may have experience leading but none managing, and they have absolutely no understanding of how to make things happen. 2. A society where there are also very few trained 'generals'. Almost everyone is either a private or a non-technical specialist. 3. Industry and commerce which finds the product of the schools and universities a poor match for their manpower needs. 4. Universities with a greater commitment to keeping staff employed than to covering material of practical value. 5. Universities that are forced by government spending priorities to shut down technical and scientific courses. (Labs where you learn how to make things happen are expensive to run. This isn't limited to the physical sciences and engineering.)
My experience with this system is representative. I am a research neuroscientist trained to be a modelling resource in an interdisciplinary team. There is little call for my skills in the UK, but on the other hand, I'm usually working on three or four grant proposals, supervising a number of research students, and providing biological expertise for a collection of engineers working on biomimetic robotics. I make things happen, and as a result my teaching load is remarkable. I run the following modules (corresponding to US courses): 1. Advanced Object-Oriented Design, a core senior-level computing two-semester module where I emphasise entry-level programming skills. 2. E-Commerce, a pair of modules that teach information systems security management and e-commerce management. Emphasis: making things happen. 3. Cognitive Neuroscience, an MSc-level module for students in artificial intelligence--my real joy. 4. Intelligent Systems Programming, an MSc-level module to teach practical programming to students in artificial intelligence 5. Information Systems Security Engineering, an MSc-level module for students in Software and Network Engineering.
I am also currently organising an MSc course in Security Engineering. Few of the lecturers nominated for that programme have any security expertise. Note the pattern--I am overloaded with teaching practical course material on how to make things happen.
No sergeants... And no generals...
-- "The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is." (Tom Vogl)
Harry Erwin
===========================
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