When I was a kid going to Edward Bleeker Junior High in Queens I had a math teacher, Mr. Brickman, who said there were only two subjects worth studying, math and grammar. And he wasn't so sure about grammar.
I remember sitting down for the first day of high school English and thinking "I bet we're going to have some great discussions here!" I was a kid. Kids get enthusiastic about things they like. I liked English. I didn't feel that way about math. BTW, my English teacher was named Miss Dragnet. In my mind she's a lot like Sarah Palin. She didn't lead really good discussions, unfortunately. But my History teacher, Mr. Goldman, did.
My freshman college English teacher taught me that in writing it's better to remove words if you can. I don't remember her name, but I remember arguing with her. I thought flowery English was good. Now I know she was right. And guess what, the same principle applies to programming. How about that.
My belief is that you'd be crazy to study one or the other given the world we live in today. It's not enough to understand how computers work, because you have to understand people too. And you'll be taken advantage of if you don't understand how computers work, by people who do.
PS: Check out this piece that says if you study computer science you'll end up working for an English major. Perhaps another good reason to study English.
PPS: Miss Dragnet was mentioned in a Village Voice article by Nat Hentoff about a famous event that happened at Bronx Science when I was a student there. Now I remember why she makes me think of Sarah Palin!
|