Science & Technology Higher Education

If someone emigrated from Nicaragua in the early 80's then he/she probably did not receive the bulk of his/her noteworthy education in the early 1980's - but earlier. From his post it may or may not be obvious which administration deserves credit or blame.

As a general rule, students from Latin America do notoriously poorly on the academic assessments used in North America, be it an SAT or graduate level GRE exam. The language barrier, if there is one, does not explain the test score gap.

The idea that there is or ever was a heyday for public education in any Central American country is not a belief founded on a large test samplings, and is not something that can be pinpointed in any survey or statistical analysis.

The wealthy parents of reasonably intelligent students or the parents (willing to borrow money) of really bright students seek out an education elsewhere - as a general rule. There is a reason the best and brightest go to Colombia, Chile, Argentina, or -if possible- the U.S.

This is not to say a first-rate tech-college would not be feasible in Nicaragua. Obviously, it could be. But, there is not at the present much of a solid basis for one, nor is there any legacy to adopt.

I would never go to Ave-Maria. If I decide to come there it won't be for money. If I wanted money I would go to US, Canada or UK.

I will look around UNI instead. I prefer to work with normal students who are moderate or poor in income but are strong in knowledge and will remain in Nicaragua and work there.

I do not know about Masters education there. In some countries there are "Master by Research" courses where student works on a research subject for 1.5-2 years and writes a thesis. No coursework is needed. Masters by Coursework is also possible but starting such a course will need more lecturers (to cover needed course subjects).

If such a method is accepted in UNI (as an example), I might come there if they accept to give me 2-3 postgraduate students to supervise.

As of this year I think it is nearly $5k per semester. Ave now caters to the online student too which is idiotic or at least highly wasteful @ $5k a semester. Last I checked they di not offer a degree in computer science, or anything related to it (mostly is is a college for rich Catholic kids to get a business admin major and a theology and int studies and/or Engish minor). They pay their priofs easily 500-1000% what incountry places often pay if their ads are correct in the newspapers. Unless you want a Nicaragua education for life in the U.S. I doubt Ave has much to offer any average Nicaraguan. If you speak decent English why not attend a better U.S. university at less cost?

Yup, agreed on all. By first-world standards, Computer Science is more of a technical/vocational education in Nicaragua.

Now riddle me this; if the Medical schools can attain at least a basic level of education, why Computer Science? I suspect because there little compsci r&d in Nicaragua, so they view it as just that, a vocation.

It's noble that Fyl would volunteer his time to university activities, but how can you sustain a constant flow of people willing to do this? I suspect you can't.

It seems a bit of creative advertising could get some "up to date" staff. For example, I taught a Computer Science course at The Evergreen State College which didn't pay squat because it was interesting to me. While I have some graduate work, I don't even have a masters--but I have years of experience.

At University of Costa Rica, the graduate classes in Computer Science are taught in English. I had interest in teaching a class or two there but it was the other side of San Jose from me. Again, not for the money--just a chance to share some external experience.

- Ave Maria seems to be expensive for the public (with more than $4000/semester). Isn't it?

- bachelor graduates of most universities do not have deep knowledge. In undergraduate level sometimes you have just a 3-4 unit course on an entire subject (which someone else might do a PhD on it).

I think Students should be able to continue in Masters and PHD to achieve more deep knowledge.

Do you think math and science weakness explains the oftens common inability to think like a problem solver? I am not sure problem solving is alls that dependent on good math ands/or science. Once you can calculate basics and grasp cause & effect a lot of problem solving is a way of thinking oftens seeming not dependent on math skills or experiments. A lot of problem solving is more creative than mathematics learned at basic school or university level. After beeing in many Latin countries it is probably obvious there are lots of drawbacks but the biggest to me is probably memorization. People treat it as an end in itself. Countless people are at the top of their class from a school with a good ors even great reputation have grades and great transcript but any decent assessment test puts them well below average. They do well because the test is realy of the ability to memorize stuff for a day or two. The test does not measure other things. I have seen the best in country educated people come from language backgrounds. It might be the methods of teaching in that area are better but it might also be that you cannot pass most translation and comprehension exams which include grammar by only memorizing. Too much is involved. That extra stuff involved might be forcing people to think more than they do in other subjects.

Agreed, 100%. Sure, that's the bill. And for Latin America, it is the polar opposite, IMHO. In Brasil, where open source is touted, the code at the univeristy level is quite creative and remarkable. Circa 2000, I saw some DDoS stuff that I haven't seen hit the public net yet.

And that is my experience, that Nicaragua is MS heavy. Is point and click the undoing of the Nicaragua IT scene?

I feel Fyl coming un-glued...

That is the expression I needed so I could talk about this. I continue to be amazed with how much Nicaraguans don't know. With rare exceptions, I just don't see problem solving being taught. I see "memorize these facts" and even parents that feel their kids need to take education seriously but they don't seem to see that what is currently being taught makes "workers" but not "thinkers".

My niece is in third grade. I see her memorizing stuff to pass a test but nothing that actually causes her to think. But, after making "strange popcorn" (that means I might put curry powder on it one time, red pepper another, ... plus usually parmesian cheese and soy sauce) in front of her a couple times, she can now creatively make a batch of popcorn with no help. So, she can problem solve but nothing in school is developing that skill for her.

This "don't think" problem ties into so many other things. For example, trying to show a 50 year old woman that has been cooking in an aluminum pot all her life that you don't need a quarter of an inch of oil in a teflon pan does not compute. Not because she is dumb but because the way she learned to cook never involved problem solving beyond "you need water, rice and salt to cook rice".

That said, there are exceptions. Gixia, the person I work with, is one of them. I don't know what got her thinking when she was in school here but she then went to Earth University in Costa Rica where, clearly, you have to think and think a lot.

So, I guess that is a long-winded way of saying I agree that the problem starts long before college. I don't think you can "fix" everyone at once but maybe what is needed is some alternative primary and secondary schools that build problem solving skills. Getting a few hundred "problem solvers" each year is better than the current "maybe you will get lucky" system.