Mandatory Ada Training

[RHARWOOD@EAST.Pima.edu (Ray Harwood)]

Several recent digests regarding the "New Ada Directive" have mentioned
both comical and serious suggestions that Ada training be mandated under
certain conditions (I loved the one about ROTC schools!).

Seriously:  As an instructor at the community college level, I'm keenly
aware of a perceived difference in our mission versus that of our more
advanced institutions.  Community colleges have, as one primary goal, a
requirement to supply it's students with the SKILLS they need to perform
adequately ON THE JOB.  Unfortunately, getting the my full-time compatriots
to see the advantage our students might have if we dropped the rather
anacronistic PASCAL requirement in favor of a required-core Ada course is
like trying to get funding for a classroom of Macintosh IIfxs.

(Not to suggest above that full-degree institutions don't provide students
with job-related skills... but compiler theory and fundamentals of operating
systems design don't show up on too many recruiting requests.  I'd like
to see EVERY graduate demonstrate programming skills in COBOL, RPG, 2
different assembler languages, C, SmallTalk, AND Ada!  I'd be better off
proposing Mac II's again!)

Ray Harwood
Associate Faculty, Pima Community College