>>12371938Tell me about it. We're supposed to teach these students (the basics of) "logic, set theory, and mathematical proofs". All of that, in 2 weeks. For reference, the mathematics students spend about a semester on this material, as well as the CS students. The CS students get a different focus and less depth than the math students, but I think we can still honestly say we're actually teaching them the basics of logic, set theory, and how to prove stuff.
So, how do we teach this stuff to future data scientists in only 2 weeks? Are those people ultra super mega geniuses? No, we teach them the absolute basics at a speed where the best we can expect from most of them is that they sort of go through the motions without really understanding what they're doing or why. (to be fair, this is also how we start teaching the CS students. But for them, this is not where we stop. At least math students are being taught mathematics properly from the start, thank god.)
The only thing I can conclude from this is that the tortured soul that designed the data science program either did not understand what mathematics is (not that uncommon for scientists and engineers) or at least did not want the students to learn it properly.
This thing is all a big joke. I don't mind, I'm laughing along and teach these students whatever I can given the time available. But I do worry that they're being trained into a role that only exists in a few companies and the minds of managers. In principle, this is not a big issue if they actually learn some useful skills during their studies. However, it seems that this is exactly the thing we're not giving them the time to learn.
There's nothing wrong with being a jack of all trades if you're also a master of few. But a master of none has a hard time getting a non-bullshit job.
