The way this was handled where I went to school the DB class was basically presented as a history of database technology class where the CS fundamentals behind how each type of database works, what it's weak points and strong points are, etc..
SQL was then something that was a side thing in the class that you were supposed to pick up for one of the projects.
We had to learn to normalize schemas in that class. I have yet to come across a team in my career where normalization was understood well enough to where it could be correctly matched to the architecture of the entire system.
The other amazing takeaway was going through the historical failures of hierarchical & graph databases. Since I started working hierarchical databases have come back with tons of hype twice now (once in the late 90s, once in the late 2010s). Both times they failed exactly the same way as history would predict based on what happened in the 60s and 70s that led to the development of relational databases. Sometimes it seems like the industry hype train is completely unaware of computer science.
SQL was then something that was a side thing in the class that you were supposed to pick up for one of the projects.
We had to learn to normalize schemas in that class. I have yet to come across a team in my career where normalization was understood well enough to where it could be correctly matched to the architecture of the entire system.
The other amazing takeaway was going through the historical failures of hierarchical & graph databases. Since I started working hierarchical databases have come back with tons of hype twice now (once in the late 90s, once in the late 2010s). Both times they failed exactly the same way as history would predict based on what happened in the 60s and 70s that led to the development of relational databases. Sometimes it seems like the industry hype train is completely unaware of computer science.