[joshuafcole]

I'm not certain that I agree with your point. I love computer science, and credit my interest in programming with the vast majority of my intellectual development, but that doesn't necessarily make it better at developing students intellectually than other fields. As I've grown older and made friends with people passionate in other fields (e.g. mathematics, physics, economics), I've learned that those people have developed similar powers of analysis and logic as I have. Through the lens of my conversation with them, and I can see the intricacies and thought processes of their fields of interest, which developed them much as the manipulations required in CS have for me. JMStewy makes a good point. For the literary-minded, literary criticism may be a great way of honing their abilities. For you and I, computer science and practicing on problems in the digital field train us well. I don't think we can say with statistical certainty that any field (let alone literary criticism) are optimal for the majority of students.