Chris Meller

Thanks for the comment. You make a few good points, and a few incorrect ones…

I suppose looking back on my comment, I can see how one might interpret it with an attitude, and even an air of supperiority. I honestly didn’t intend for it to come across as such. As I said, I was not attempting to insult him, his experience, or his class. I also respect that he was attempting to state the opposite of my opinion. I have no problem with him stating his opinion, merely the method in which he did so.

I also don’t doubt that there are certain places out there where this type of thing is used on a daily basis. That still doesn’t mean that I think it’s right or in any way practical or useful. I’m looking at the larger practical picture here, not the hypothetical and theoretical one that it’s ‘used out there’ (as his experience, which you found, indicates he’s a pretty good judge of).

I also didn’t mean to insult his assignment, per se, although I did find it an entire waste of time. As I said, I realize how these things work. I seriously doubt he had any choice when deciding which book to use for his class. I know that in South Carolina Public Schools, these things are decided on either a state-wide or district-wide level. A board of people selected specifically for the task decides which textbooks and what material will be covered in a course, ensuring that the minimum requirements by law are met for a given subject. I imagine that a similar process takes place in most colleges and universities. “Someone up the line” decided that this book would be used for this class, so that this material would be learned. The instructor simply fulfills those requirements, just as I do exactly what my boss tells me at work…

I still think his assumption that I was incapable of doing the assignment is outrageous. That’s partially why I included the example about my previous C++ experience with him. I’m obviously intelligent, and capable of doing the work. I certainly didn’t expect him to give me a free 100 on it because I decided to write up a cute little paragraph explaining why I didn’t do the assignment. Quite the contrary. I fully expected to receive a 0 on the assignment (as I did), and merely wanted to voice my distaste for the subject matter.

I agree that I, as a student, am expected to do the assignments laid out for me. My point, however, was to show that this may not be the most appropriate use of time and resources. As I showed in my initial post about this class, I think there was far too little time spent on the actual mechanics of using a SQL query, and far too much time spent on the theoretical aspects of database design. Our new DBA at work is a prime example. She can SQL her way in one table and out another, but she doesn’t have the physical logical capacity to design a table structure that makes sense. We’ve tried and tried to show her why x is more logical in this instance than the original table y she developed, but she just doesn’t understand. I could provide some detailed examples that demonstrate my points, but that’s really more detail than I need to get into here. If you’re really that curious, I’m sure I could write another rant about her lack of common sense. The point is, this is something you’ll either “get” or simply won’t “get”. No matter how much you try to teach a horse to read and talk (forgive me Mr. Ed), his brain simply isn’t wired the same way yours is, and it’s unlikely that you’ll ever accomplish your goal, no matter how much time and effort you spend trying. The horse just isn’t ever going to “get” it, as some people just never will “get” it.

Getting back to the initial point though… I wasn’t trying to make an excuse as to why I shouldn’t have to do the assignment. Instead, I was trying to point out that there may have been a better way to use this series of chapters (and therefore assignments he develops to go along with them). I’m working to better humanity as a whole, not myself. I imagine most of the people taking this course are fresh out of high school and don’t have a clue what’s going on. Since I do happen to have significantly more experience in the IT world than they do, it’s my responsibility to point out places where I feel there could be room for improvement.

I agree that this conversation should have been done in private. My analogy about the blogger who doesn’t open comments on a confrontational or inflamitory post wasn’t meant to imply that it should have taken place on the class bulletin board (which I routinely ignore because of the horribly signal to noise ratio generated by clueless other students anyway). Instead, I meant to address the one-sided nature of his conversation. As I said, I expected an email, which would have been private, but would have allowed for the possibility of continued conversation.

I suppose I was under the mistaken impression that he would give a damn about my opinion, and that he would be interested in possible ways to improve the class-taking experience for future students. It has been my impression thus far in the other classes I’ve taken that most of the instructors DO care about their students, both present and future, and want to make their classes as practical and effective as possible. To demonstrate my point, my Cisco instructor recently handed out revised homework assignments that more appropriately reflect both the tested material and relevent real-world material. This just makes sense to me. If it’s not on the test and we’re not going to need to know it, why waste time on it?

This is a technical college aimed at helping people get real-world jobs and succeed in real life, not a graduate school that is helping us spend time and money pondering the meaning of life. Theoretical nonsense has no place in these courses, and most of the instructors and administration have realized this.

I guess overall, I was expecting him to care. Rather than treat me like an adult who might *just might* know what I was talking about, he took the parental attitude inherent to most high school teachers, but not typically found in instructors at technical colleges which have a good number of continuing education courses aimed at other adults. He assumed I was a snotty-nosed brat kid that didn’t know what I was talking about and was just trying to be a dick… When in reality I was actually motivated purely by the good of the whole, rather than myself.

Rather than even being “the bigger man”, he came down to what he saw as being my level (even though it’s not actually the level I was on when writing my original note). This isn’t what I expect out of someone teaching others. In fact, his reaction has prevented me from asking him a SQL 2000 question that would further my knowledge in respect to a problem I’ve run into in real life. I have no idea what it means when it says my login is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection, but I’m sure as hell not going to ask this asshole after the way he attacked me for not knowing anything about the real world.

Anything else I’ve missed? Any other opinions on the matter?