A German university wants to teach computer students to stop acting like geeks. With all the coding and debugging, coke and pizza, and peers who speak the same language, who needs to socialize with the outer world? But now Munich University promises to make its budding geeks proficient in "much-needed" subjects including how to dress properly and how to make small talk. Turns out there's more to know about etiquette than the proper behavior in newsgroups. University spokesman Dieter Heinrichsen also teaches table manners: which glasses and forks to use during which course. But come on, setting up tables is so '90s. Instead of an exam, students will sit a three-course lunch to show off their new skills. To give the exam a suitable atmosphere, it won't be held in the university building but at a nearby hotel. One can only hope these clever geeks won't use their newly acquired conversational skills to hold forth on such things as Linux, Flash or the sluggishness of WinXP.
Social Debugging 101
A German university wants to teach computer students to stop acting like geeks. With all the coding and debugging, coke and pizza, and peers who speak the same language, who needs to socialize with the outer world? But now Munich University promises to make its budding geeks proficient in "much-needed" subjects including how to dress properly and how to make small talk. Turns out there's more to know about etiquette than the proper behavior in newsgroups. University spokesman Dieter Heinrichsen also teaches table manners: which glasses and forks to use during which course. But come on, setting up tables is so '90s. Instead of an exam, students will sit a three-course lunch to show off their new skills. To give the exam a suitable atmosphere, it won't be held in the university building but at a nearby hotel. One can only hope these clever geeks won't use their newly acquired conversational skills to hold forth on such things as Linux, Flash or the sluggishness of WinXP.
