Can software maintenance be taught?

It is noted that three arguments have been used as the basis for not developing specific courses in software maintenance. The arguments are worded as follows: maintenance is a direct continuation of software development and should therefore be taught as a proper follow-on to the development task; the real technical change is in developing systems from scratch so the technical challenge of performing maintenance does not require a separate course; and finally, aside from development activities and developing for maintenance there is not sufficient material available to prepare for a course in software maintenance. The author demonstrates that all three assumptions are erroneous and should be discarded. Recommendations are then given on how to teach software maintenance and on what is needed to teach it more effectively.<<ETX>>