This is a super common issue that people are raising over and over again, but there's already a solution for this: split teaching into technical and non-technical. In some countries universities are split along this axis.
Take statistics for example - most people that know something about statistics don't exactly know what a statistical space is (and it is a very precisely defined concept, embedded in the set theory). And that's fine, that's for the "pure" nerds. How to use it can be taught without defining the roots and proving theorems from the ground up. It is also how most of software development is done, few people out there that write code understand how CPUs fetch and execute instructions, talk to other perhipherials, how does malloc()_or sin() work, what is a page fault, or how to balance a red-black tree. Just use std::map or dict() or something, it just works :)
> most people that know something about statistics don't exactly know what a statistical space is (and it is a very precisely defined concept, embedded in the set theory). And that's fine, that's for the "pure" nerds. How to use it can be taught without defining the roots and proving theorems from the ground up.
It's a popular theory, but then one day you read every recent biology paper and notice that only 2% of them are able to do statistics in a way that isn't total nonsense.
The only way for "learn how to use it, but not how it works" to work is if you get feedback whenever you make a mistake. That is not true when you use statistics.
>how CPUs fetch and execute instructions, talk to other perhipherials, how does malloc()_or sin() work, what is a page fault, or how to balance a red-black tree
literally every single one of these things is taught in an undergrad class and understanding of which is deemed important by the community - curricula get lots of input from industry partners. so you're not making a great case for why people don't need to know what a sigma algebra is...
>Just use std::map or dict() or something, it just works :)
wouldn't it be swell if this is how we practiced medicine too? patient has early stages of atherosclerosis just do a triple-bypass or something, it just works.
> you're not making a great case for why people don't need to know what a sigma algebra is
I can assure you most people that do stats / data mining / big data / machine learning do not know or do not remember any more what a sigma algebra is.
> wouldn't it be swell if this is how we practiced medicine too? patient has early stages of atherosclerosis just do a triple-bypass or something, it just works.
C'mon writing websites is not surgery. There are some people with deep knowledge required in the industry as a whole, but you really don't know to know much to write an app or a website, especially an internal corporate tool. And this is where most working hours are spent.
It's the reality of things. I mean just look at the OP link. Do you think this is targeted at people that already know what a sigma algebra is?
Take statistics for example - most people that know something about statistics don't exactly know what a statistical space is (and it is a very precisely defined concept, embedded in the set theory). And that's fine, that's for the "pure" nerds. How to use it can be taught without defining the roots and proving theorems from the ground up. It is also how most of software development is done, few people out there that write code understand how CPUs fetch and execute instructions, talk to other perhipherials, how does malloc()_or sin() work, what is a page fault, or how to balance a red-black tree. Just use std::map or dict() or something, it just works :)