One of the big shifts in academia over the past couple decades is that, for any number of reasons, students today are less likely to self-study or tinker outside of classes and internships. The increased prevalence of basic bootcamp-style classes like "Let's Build a Rails App" in CS programs is because departments can no longer assume that students will explore things like that in their spare time.
What good does that do, though? Make it harder to tell the intrinsically motivated students from the “I’m just here to get a job when I graduate”? It seems like it harms the former.
Is that what we need from universities? Is that helping employers? Helping strong or intermediate students?
It's what universities have become. They are expensive, grandiose trade schools operating out of very distinguished-looking Collegiate Gothic designed buildings.
