I need a viewpoint for this question I took a oneday worksh

I need a viewpoint for this question :

I took a one-day workshop a few terms ago on \"Critical Theory: Pedagogy of Inclusion, Equity, and Empowerment.\" Do you see how I suffer for you? :) Just kidding, it was actually pretty interesting. One of the topics we talked about was something called the Hidden Curriculum. When you take this course, we\'re trying to teach you about software design and about writing computer programs. This is the \"regular\" curriculum of the course. But, at the same time, we\'re also teaching you the rules of being a student, and about how the instructor (me) has power and control over the students (you). When this is done badly, it results in a lot of, \"do it that way because I said so.\" When it is done right, in my opinion, it prepares you with the skills that you need to be successful as a professional programmer with a real job.

One of the key pieces of \"hidden curriculum\" in this course has to do with our use of pseudocode. Those of you who have received feedback on Lab 2 probably know that I\'m fairly picky about your pseudocode, particularly about being consistent with your variable names and module names. This might seem like a case where I\'m on some kind of mad power trip, and just making you do busy work \"because I said so.\" However, there are a few reasons I do this. If you do get a job as a computer programmer, you\'ll get instructions on exactly how your designs and code should be written (usually in the form of a style guide. I\'ve seen style guides that ran to hundreds of pages). If you don\'t learn and follow the style guide, everyone else has to adapt to you, and they have to know both the \"right way\" of doing things, and also how you do things. If everyone acted that way, the code base would be a total mess. If you keep that up, the other programmers start muttering about you, and complaining that you think your time is more valuable than everyone else\'s, or that you\'re too incompetent to continue working there. So, being able to learn a standard and to follow it can actually be pretty important in the real world (even though the exact standard you learn in this class probably won\'t match the exact standard you\'ll be using when you get a job).

The other reason I think this is important is because when you take the exams in this course, about half of each exam will be pseudocode walkthrough problems. If you don\'t know the pseudocode standard we use in this course, you won\'t be able to complete these problems correctly. By requiring that everyone learn the same pseudocode standard, I\'m trying to make it possible for you to demonstrate your understanding of the logic of the pseudocode, instead of getting tripped up in the exact syntax of the pseudocode.

So, my question this week is, how does all of that make you feel? Do you view the pseudocode related tasks in this course as having value, or do you view them more as busy work, and a hurdle that you have to jump over just to get a grade? Have you seen examples (positive or negative) of the \"hidden curriculum\" in this course, or other courses you\'ve taken? Do you think it\'s good or bad that the hidden curriculum exists?

Solution

Learning to write pseudocode perfectly is a very exciting thing. Writing pseudocodes in a proper, standardized manner has lot of advantages. It is more than just a hurdle to jump over for getting grades. Writing pseudocodes in a standard manner helps uslearn how to follow a standard approach of designing. This would help us in future jobs where we have to compulsorily follow standards in designing. It would empower us for the future and is necessary for being successful in our jobs later. Writing pseudocodes also helps in developing clear logical thinking and problem solving skills.

Hidden curriculum is a good thing to have. It helps us gain additional skills and expertise which can later be useful in our professional life.