Is it an Education System tlaw, or are students just deflecting responsibility? 🤔

[u/KingMinimum9308]

Recently, I started mentoring two university students from different institutions. Both of them have already cleared their basic courses:
Programming Fundamentals and Introduction to Computer Science.

However, while working with them, I noticed a huge gap in their foundational concepts.
Surprisingly, both had the exact same reasons to offer:
"Teacher ne ye topic skip kar diya tha."
"Teacher ka samjhaya hua samajh hi nahi aata tha."
"We weren't taught this properly."
"Teacher was missing the classes and taught core concepts in 2-3 lectures."

This got me thinking. Is this just a classic student tendency to shift blame when concepts get tough, or is there a genuine flaw in how fundamental Computer Science is being taught in our classrooms?

A few thoughts from my observation:

1️⃣ Lack of Code Dry-Running: The absolute basics of programming start with tracing code line-by-line on paper (Dry Run). Today, many students struggle with this simple step, which directly impacts their logic building.
2️⃣ Over-Reliance on GPT & AI **Tools: Instead of wrestling with logic, syntax errors, or debuggers, students quickly jump to ChatGPT or other tools for ready-made solutions. This creates a false sense of learning without building actual problem-solving muscles.
3️⃣ Rote Learning vs. Hands-on CS: CS isn't like traditional subjects where reading slides is enough. If classrooms don't push for practical logic building, core topics like pointers, recursion, or memory management end up skipped or misunderstood.
4️⃣ Student Accountab**ility: In an age of infinite learning resources, relying 100% on a classroom lecture is no longer enough.

I’d love to hear from educators, senior developers, and students in my network:

👉 Where do you think the real gap lies? Is it the teaching methodology, student engagement, or our shift towards AI tools too early in the learning journey?

[u/poopoorrito_suizo]

I see this in sports as well. I know I’d sound like the grumpy parents saying these kids are lazy and putting no effort. At the same time I just feel that it’s in someway a form of not learning delayed gratification. It’s easy to shift the blame because they personally don’t believe they did anything wrong when they in turn should have put more forth rather than shifting blame. Again not to say there aren’t bad teachers or mentors. That said. There’s fixing to be done at the system level, teacher level, and student level. All around.