The journalist wrote from the perspective of the "computer science" curriculum being "wrong" or "not relevant" to real world skills those students wanted to learn.
However, the other perspective the journalist could have explained was that the students misunderstood what a "computer science" degree actually is. The Computer Science curricula grew out of the Mathematics department. That's why it has classes on topics like automata, algorithms, proofs and theorems. Studying those topics will seem very irrelevant when they notice other Javascript programmers earning $100k to make HTML elements blink on and off.
These students were really wanting a "programming" curriculum. Maybe "software engineering" instead of "computer science".
A person who wants to repair car engines could try for a degree in "mechanical engineering". There's no doubt the mechanical engineers who work at Ford/Toyota/BMW can replace a spark plug and change the oil but there will many theory classes that won't feel relevant to the daily work of a garage mechanic.
However, the other perspective the journalist could have explained was that the students misunderstood what a "computer science" degree actually is. The Computer Science curricula grew out of the Mathematics department. That's why it has classes on topics like automata, algorithms, proofs and theorems. Studying those topics will seem very irrelevant when they notice other Javascript programmers earning $100k to make HTML elements blink on and off.
These students were really wanting a "programming" curriculum. Maybe "software engineering" instead of "computer science".
A person who wants to repair car engines could try for a degree in "mechanical engineering". There's no doubt the mechanical engineers who work at Ford/Toyota/BMW can replace a spark plug and change the oil but there will many theory classes that won't feel relevant to the daily work of a garage mechanic.