You seem to be implying that all Higher Computing students would know a fair bit about programming concepts, networking, and a bunch of other things.<br>I've got to say that's just wrong. My Higher Computing class focussed on COMAL, the networking was entirely conceptual (no interaction with actual networks) and everything was running on systems about 10 years out of date.
<br>Not all schools have access to the resources to teach Computing courses worth a damn, and assuming certain things of them would raise the bar above a bunch of people, who - despite best efforts to the contrary - can find that the schooling system is incapable of teaching what's relevant.
<br>As for 'Anyone with a mild interest in networking' knowing about Perl, AD, and Linux ... that's just silly.<br><br>I'm not one to defend Abertay, well ever, but I don't know that nudging the bar up to the extent where it's fair game only for hobby programmers with all-round knowledge and a wealth of previous experimentation is really where I'd want it to go.
<br>Better you abuse them for teaching the simple stuff slowly and incompetently, for a general half-arsed attitude to lecturing, for hiring lecturers with only a passing knowledge in the subject taught, and for teaching the complex stuff in a manner similar to
<a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation">Yahtzee</a> on speed, with a ferret up his ass. (I'm thinking of a particular lecturer here)<br><a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation">
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