Homework problems (was: extract string)

[klussier at comcast.net]

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Jim Kuzdrall <gnhlug at intrel.com>
> On Tuesday 10 January 2006 04:13 pm, Brian wrote:
> > Answer C: Who cares?
> 
>     All of us will care when the country has to depend on the products 
> of today's education system.  Get ready for it.  The standards are so 
> incredibly low that these graduates will not even know the buzz words 
> of technology.
> 
>     The professors look the other way on all manner of things that were 
> "cheating" when I got my education.  Copying from other students, 
> lifting solutions from the Internet, putting all the test answers on 
> one's programmable calculator, and other guarantees of ignorance are 
> completely acceptable.

While I agree with the sentiment, I have to disagree in this case. I don't see this so much  as cheasting as it is augmenting the education. There have been several examples given to the original poster, who will now have to learn which is the best way for them to proceed. What they are learning is where to look for the answers to problems, which I find to be of greater value then just learning a quick one-line shell command (or string of commands as the case may be).
 
>     The cruel world will reveal their error when it is too late for them 
> or us to recover from it.
> 
>     It is not just in tech schools.  Can you imagine a cum laude English 
> graduate who cannot spell or write a grammatical sentence?   Well, our 
> family has just paid for one.

In an English class, a Math class, I can agree with you. However, in the technology sector I disagree. I mean, seriously, isn't OSS all about code re-use and working as a group to furthur a project? 

Just my $0.02,
Kenny