[geeks] Mensa

[Tom Borton]

Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> And no, I don't think it is "smart" to thwart the system which is
> supposed to educate you.
> 
> In the last 20 years SAT scores have been climbing, while innumeracy and
> illiteracty have been skyrocketing.
> 
> Those skills--playing the system, manipulation of instructors, doing the
> least work possible--they might well be valid skills, but not in the
> context of education.
> 
> <snip>
>
> It's a valid fact.
> 
> I know engineers that do real work, who scored lower than engineers who
> currently wait tables.
> 
> You go ahead and tell me the guy waiting tables is a genius.
> 
> I know the truth: he washed out because he spent his time on making good
> grades instead of engineering.
> 
> 
It's worse than that: those skills [0] are teaching a generation of
engineers that "passing test" = "success".  One engineer who no longer
works with me could not understand why "it worked once" was not good
enough.  The fact that he came up with something convoluted, leaked like
a sieve, and was well nigh unmaintainable.  We're finding problems that
were introduced six months ago that shouldn't be there[1].

[0] Disclaimer: I am one of those who tests well and (thinks I) can
engineer.  I also recognize that the latter is far more important than
the former.

[1] I don't blame him for not having been taught better.  I do hold him
accountable for refusing to acknowledge shortcomings in his work after
teammates spent hours walking him through them.  "But it works!" wears
thin after a while...