Sunday 4 September 2011

Britain 'throwing away computer heritage for humanities', says Google's Eric Schmidt

Mr Schmidt, who has a degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in computer science, told the Edinburgh Television Festival in the keynote MacTaggart lecture that he was “flabbergasted to learn that computer science isn’t even taught as standard” in schools in the UK, and that Britain had gradually “stopped nurturing its polymaths”.
“There’s been a drift to the humanities – engineering and science aren’t championed. Even worse, both sides seem to denigrate the other…you’re either a ‘luvvy’ or a ‘boffin’,” he said.
“I saw the other day that on The Apprentice Alan Sugar said engineers are no good at business. Really? I don’t think we’ve done too badly.”
In 2010 Google, which employs around 10,000 engineers worldwide including “several hundred” in the UK, turned over $29.3bn.
Mr Schmidt, who as head of the web search giant was the first person from outside the broadcast industry ever to have delivered the prestigious MacTaggart, also used the platform to berate the UK for its track record of growing global businesses.

We @ DAW say - Give 100 of Schmidts fellow countrymen a blank map of the world and ask them to mark Africa, India, Iraq, Israel and China and only about 5% will score 100%. please Clean up your own backyard first m8!

but still keep teaching the sciences

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