After going through the Computer Science degree plan at Abilene Christian University and being an adjunct professor at McMurry University, I think a slight change in how we teach databases at universities would make a big difference. I give credit to Dr. Barton, who taught Database Theory when I was a sophomore at ACU (nearly 5 years ago?! wow.), as being one of the most useful computer sciences classes I ever took. Reason being: databases are used in nearly all forms of software. I had already dabbled in PHP/MySQL before taking the course, so my biggest benefit from the class was learning how to utilize joins and indexing. From talking to others students, it doesn't seem like they've had as lucky of an experience as I, and I think that is because they didn't see the practicality of the database course. Having already played with relational databases, it was much easier for my to comprehend the deeper theory behind databases. So, on with my suggestion: If you have anything to do with course curriculum for any degree plans that requires a database-related course, I highly recommend the topic of databases be split into two courses. The first should be a hands-on, 100/200s level, "Intro to Relational Databases" course that is entirely about learning SQL and writing queries, nothing that goes too deep into the theoretical and mathematical side of databases. Reserve the theoretical and mathematical course for the upper-level, 300/400s course. I suggest this for a few reasons: 1) Simply knowing how to create and structure a database and using SQL to SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and JOIN records can take someone a long ways, in many different professions. 2) By having a lower level intro course, you can open up the basic knowledge of databases and SQL to other degree plans. 3) You just don't need the theoretical and mathematical knowledge behind databases to make effective use of databases. By all means, relational databases and SQL barely scratch the surface of the entirety of databases, and the in-depth science behind databases is absolutely necessary for those who want to learn, research and improve databases, so it should still be a required, upper-level course for any Computer Science major. I believe giving the "Intro to Relational Databases" course a lower barrier to entry and a higher hands-on experience will dramatically improve students' understanding of databases and incline them to be more interested in the deeper theory of databases. Thoughts?