After a student has completed a course in organic chemistry it is highly important that this student have a solid understanding of several subject. It is particularly important that students not be presented with material that is so simplified that it is absolutely wrong!

The traditional approach to the teaching of carbocation chemistry deliberately seems to avoid discussing bonding, electron delocalisation, and even such practical concepts as isoenergetic hydride shifts.

The reality is that what is often presented in organic chemistry textbooks and in many organic chemistry courses is far from what has been established by the research of the past fifty years. Carbocations are NOT simply molecules with holes in them.

Introducing students to certain aspects of computational chemistry can help present students with a much clearer view of these intermediates.

There is no excuse for presenting misleading or erroneous concepts!