I agree with you. Projects can be superficial, showy, time-sinks, warm-fuzzy-feel-goods, or out-right meaningless soul drains. I have heard that project worship is a malignant disease in the education system and academia. Professors are assessed for tenure based on the quantity of projects completed, without a thought given to their ability to teach and hardly a glance at the actual merit of their projects. In k-12 schools, endless projects can cover up the lack of meaningful content in a curriculum.
On the other hand, projects seem wholly appropriate for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of nodes A, B, C, and D. In fact, doesn’t knowing that there is a project employing these concepts help many people pay closer attention since they have to imagine a concept’s possible applications? However, the knowledge, not the project, must be the goal. When we make projects the goal, people bandy projects around to represent their alleged competence.
Practice doesn’t make your knowledge complete. It reveals where your knowledge is lacking. There’s a difference.
I agree with you. Projects can be superficial, showy, time-sinks, warm-fuzzy-feel-goods, or out-right meaningless soul drains. I have heard that project worship is a malignant disease in the education system and academia. Professors are assessed for tenure based on the quantity of projects completed, without a thought given to their ability to teach and hardly a glance at the actual merit of their projects. In k-12 schools, endless projects can cover up the lack of meaningful content in a curriculum.
On the other hand, projects seem wholly appropriate for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of nodes A, B, C, and D. In fact, doesn’t knowing that there is a project employing these concepts help many people pay closer attention since they have to imagine a concept’s possible applications? However, the knowledge, not the project, must be the goal. When we make projects the goal, people bandy projects around to represent their alleged competence.
Practice doesn’t make your knowledge complete. It reveals where your knowledge is lacking. There’s a difference.