Knowledge Is Good

Editor's//Comment

Knowledge Is Good

By David Riggs

I recently read In the Basement of the Ivory Tower, aprovocative article in The Atlantic(June, 2008). Written anonymously by Professor X (obviously for fear ofcompromising his employment status), the author takes umbrage with the ideathat everyone deserves and, more importantly, is even prepared to attain acollege education. The underlying tone is an indictment of our educationalsystem and society in general. But the main point, clearly stated, is that somepeople simply do not belong in a college classroom.

Being college-educated I can reflect on this article onseveral levels. I m reminded of the line from Caddyshack when, responding negatively to a request about a collegescholarship, the pompous Judge Smails tells his young caddy that the worldneeds ditch diggers, Danny. But I m also reminded of the motto on the statueof Faber College sfounder in the movie Animal House: Knowledge Is Good.

Don t get me wrong: resorting to the lowest commondenominator notwithstanding, or even dating myself by the movies I quote, I dothink being educated, and having the opportunity to become educated, isimportant. I am absolutely in favor of people challenging and betteringthemselves, broadening their horizons, knowing as much about the world aroundthem as possible. There s absolutely no reason a ditch digger should not havean education. Sadly, not everyone is equipped for this.

And if you push me, I ll argue the merits of a liberalarts education where you can take courses in philosophy and physics, art and aeronautics over the larger institutions that pigeon hole students the minute they stepfoot on campus. Where s the exploration? The sense ofdiscovery? The desire to be well rounded? Who onearth decided you can t be in the choir if you re not a music major?!? Don tget me started ...

The thing is, having an education does not mean you aresmart. And vice versa. I know programmers who holddoctoral degrees, and I know programmers who never attended college. It s allabout aptitude and attitude. Do what you love, and do it to the best of yourability. I m sure it helps to have the benefit of a higher education whenapplying for certain jobs or negotiating salaries. But those I know who are self-taughthave just as much passion and commitment to developing top-notch programs asthose with college degrees. And in some cases, maybe their street smarts theproverbial school of hard knocks gives them an advantage: perseverance,thinking outside the box, work ethic.

Besides, the name of the game in this industry, like most,is results. What have you done for me lately? You must keep producing,keep wowing your boss, keep impressing your clients. It all boils down towhether or not you have the mind set and desire to learn, to get better at whatyou do. Knowledge is good.

That s where we come in. We target a world-class audienceof developers. And no matter where you are in your pursuit of higher learning,you can think of asp.netPRO as partof your continuing education. Dare I say it s requiredreading? We teach by example. By showing valuable programming techniques inaction through real-world apps and code we help professional softwaredevelopers build, deploy, and run the next generation of dynamic, distributedWeb applications. And as ASP.NET hasmatured, so has asp.netPRO grown tomeet the needs of our readers and the needs of the ASP.NETdeveloper community.

Thanks for reading. Class dismissed.

David Riggs iseditor-in-chief of asp.netPROand its companion e-newsletter, asp.netNOW. Reach him at mailto:[email protected].