Ever wondered why the new batch of graduate IT trainees don’t know their LANS from their WANS and think a server is someone holding the balls in a game of tennis? Puzzle no more. They are probably the beneficiaries of the dumbing down of degree courses that the authorities are none too anxious to discuss. College computer lecturer Jethro Cadbury revealed to the Times newspaper that he set an old university entrance test question in a degree examination. The reason, he explained, was it matched his students’ abilities and his view that standards were being watered down. South Thames College in London were furious – not about lower standards but because Cadbury had spoken out in public. Now he has been sacked and plans, at the age of 50, to return to computer programming. He has, at least, the consolation of knowing that wherever he works, new programmers joining him from college are unlikely to offer much in the way of competition.
