James Drogan

Re Conversations with Dave

I read the same article this morning.

In a presentation I proposed for CUNY's 2nd Annual IT Conference "Instructional/Information Technology in CUNY: Issues, Innovations, Integration" scheduled for November 14, 2003 I included the following chart.

The gap between what academia produces and what business wants is constantly increasing. Holstein would seem to support the hypothesis. This hypothesis did not, by the way, come to me after I had left IBM. I suspect it has been in my thinking the last decade or so.

I don't think this hypothesis necessarily applies to all subject matter. Calculus is calculus. But in fields that are subjected to more buffeting by the forces of the world (logistics, medicine, foreign policy come to mind as examples), I think it relevant.

I support Holstein's suggestions. Rather than pointing fingers, academia and business ought to come to the realization it is in their common interests to work together to resolve the issue. The combination of academically qualified and business qualified teachers is a must. The trick in all this is to somehow prevent class warfare.