[dasil003]

> Were it not for the perceived value of a CS degree, I suspect a substantial number of students wouldn't even bother, and probably flock to Coursera, etc.

Yes, well maybe they should get on with it then.

The beauty of CS is that the theory is directly applicable to the practice of software engineering. And because of this close connection between code and theory, you can develop significant coding skills just from doing the problem sets. As per the usual academic refrain, you get out of it what you put in.

If you think they should just be teaching you industry skills then you're wasting your time and money because college will never be as instructive as taking an internship in an actual company shipping code. Not only that, but you're paying for the privilege instead of being paid. Even if they rolled over and decided to go this route, academia does not have the knowledge or experience of what it takes to be successful in industry, must less impart that knowledge to you.

If you're going to go to college, take advantage of the academic strengths: the deep knowledge, the curiosity that goes beyond the immediate problem, the great minds you have at your daily disposal.

On the other hand, if your CS program sucks then it sucks and I'm sorry.