On Sat, Feb 19, 2005 at 09:11:14PM +0000, Helen Faulkner wrote: > I wonder how many other people here experienced a similar thing to what > the woman interviewed relates: namely that the apparent level of > programming expertise of the men in her course, before the course even > started, was so high that she felt incompetant by comparison and was > discouraged from pursuing it further. Having taught CSCI courses, and been quite interested in the level of competence in my fellow students in my EE subjects, I observed that most people, regardless of gender, had absolutely no knowledge, experience, or aptitude for programming. Yes, some people could already program (such as myself), but there are always going to be a few people with prior experience in any field of study. But perhaps my University just attracted a lot of really dumb and ill-suited CSCI candidates. It certainly is inappropriate for a course to have "implied pre-requisites", whatever they may be, and the institution should typically have a means of attaining any explicit pre-requisites which are not obtained via the usual means of entry (that means high school, for the most part). But getting discouraged because other people are better than you is setting yourself up for failure wherever you go. Only one person can be at the top of any field. Everyone else is a runner-up. - Matt
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