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logicbuttonI've been talking a lot lately to my fellow math majors, mostly coworkers, about the classes required for the major and the professors who teach them. And I have to say, that while everyone's entitled to an opinion, I'm feeling a bit discouraged here. Why all the venom directed at 204? Where's the love?
Okay, maybe it's not so much venom as it is a distaste. I think everyone I've talked to has said something along the lines of either "I hated 204" and, when prompted, said, "it was just so different, and so demanding, and it was way too early in the morning," or "I liked 204 okay, but..." Come on, everybody, where's your spirit?
Yeah, 204 was different. You know as well as I do that there's more to math than what you can do on a calculator. And I don't imagine you were naive enough to think that you would be able to major in math and avoid those things. But even if you figured you would just suffer through whatever the department made you endure that was outside your comfort zone (and really, I think it was, in one way or another, outside of everybody's comfort zone), why make it so hard on yourself? Didn't you ever look at a particularly elegant proof and think admiringly, "amazing; just look what math can do"? Didn't you ever check over the homework you had just written up and feel strangely proud at how neat and clever it was, and how intelligent you sounded, even if you did get it back later covered in green pen (at which point you just went ahead and made it perfect to turn in again, and felt just as proud)?
Yeah, 204 was demanding. All good classes taught by good professors are demanding. And nobody I've ever spoken to has disagreed on my point that this particular class is taught by one of the best professors imaginable. (Anyone who silently disagrees should really examine their criteria for a good professor.) It was also not as hard to do well in as it sometimes seemed. But even if you did think it was awfully hard, even if you didn't do as well in it as you would have liked, admit it: you learned a lot. You opened up your mind to things that cast a sense of order onto the whole of mathematics that may have even affected the way you view the world, and probably made your speaking style more precise to boot. As I've said already, this class is virtually unparalleled for evoking a sense of accomplishment in its students. If it was hard, all the better. And if you still can't give the class any points for being challenging, you can always give it points for character-building.
Yeah, 204 was held at 8:45 in the morning. That can't really be helped. Still, if you're going to have an early class, it might as well be one taught by an interesting and energetic teacher. Nobody calls Dr. Lewin boring. I don't even think she knows how to be boring, and would probably have a rather difficult time going about it. Besides, the concepts may have been profound, but they were based on things that certainly weren't too hard for you to grasp no matter what time you rolled out of bed. Please. Proving that every integer is either even or odd--a bit difficult when you're taking so much care to phrase everything absolutely perfectly. Believing that every integer is either even or odd--not so much. It's not as though you were asked to write proofs on your own on the spot during class anyway. Even if you just can't forgive the scheduling, I think we can agree that it's pretty lame to judge a class' overall worth based on the time it's held.
If you're still reading this far, thanks for sticking around. I don't mean to come off as resentful or even exasperated here. It's just a bit of a downer to hear such ambiguous (or unambiguously negative) things about a class that I feel deserves better, from people who should really be more enthusiastic about this kind of thing, no less. It could be that I'm just overly optimistic and might be expecting too much of the love I have for the subject matter from majors, when all you really need to be one is the drive and basic intelligence necessary to completing the classes. But now that this one class is over, it just doesn't seem worthwhile to think of it poorly at all, especially since I thought that, despite everything, it was one of the most meaningful and effective classes I'll probably ever take.
Okay, maybe it's not so much venom as it is a distaste. I think everyone I've talked to has said something along the lines of either "I hated 204" and, when prompted, said, "it was just so different, and so demanding, and it was way too early in the morning," or "I liked 204 okay, but..." Come on, everybody, where's your spirit?
Yeah, 204 was different. You know as well as I do that there's more to math than what you can do on a calculator. And I don't imagine you were naive enough to think that you would be able to major in math and avoid those things. But even if you figured you would just suffer through whatever the department made you endure that was outside your comfort zone (and really, I think it was, in one way or another, outside of everybody's comfort zone), why make it so hard on yourself? Didn't you ever look at a particularly elegant proof and think admiringly, "amazing; just look what math can do"? Didn't you ever check over the homework you had just written up and feel strangely proud at how neat and clever it was, and how intelligent you sounded, even if you did get it back later covered in green pen (at which point you just went ahead and made it perfect to turn in again, and felt just as proud)?
Yeah, 204 was demanding. All good classes taught by good professors are demanding. And nobody I've ever spoken to has disagreed on my point that this particular class is taught by one of the best professors imaginable. (Anyone who silently disagrees should really examine their criteria for a good professor.) It was also not as hard to do well in as it sometimes seemed. But even if you did think it was awfully hard, even if you didn't do as well in it as you would have liked, admit it: you learned a lot. You opened up your mind to things that cast a sense of order onto the whole of mathematics that may have even affected the way you view the world, and probably made your speaking style more precise to boot. As I've said already, this class is virtually unparalleled for evoking a sense of accomplishment in its students. If it was hard, all the better. And if you still can't give the class any points for being challenging, you can always give it points for character-building.
Yeah, 204 was held at 8:45 in the morning. That can't really be helped. Still, if you're going to have an early class, it might as well be one taught by an interesting and energetic teacher. Nobody calls Dr. Lewin boring. I don't even think she knows how to be boring, and would probably have a rather difficult time going about it. Besides, the concepts may have been profound, but they were based on things that certainly weren't too hard for you to grasp no matter what time you rolled out of bed. Please. Proving that every integer is either even or odd--a bit difficult when you're taking so much care to phrase everything absolutely perfectly. Believing that every integer is either even or odd--not so much. It's not as though you were asked to write proofs on your own on the spot during class anyway. Even if you just can't forgive the scheduling, I think we can agree that it's pretty lame to judge a class' overall worth based on the time it's held.
If you're still reading this far, thanks for sticking around. I don't mean to come off as resentful or even exasperated here. It's just a bit of a downer to hear such ambiguous (or unambiguously negative) things about a class that I feel deserves better, from people who should really be more enthusiastic about this kind of thing, no less. It could be that I'm just overly optimistic and might be expecting too much of the love I have for the subject matter from majors, when all you really need to be one is the drive and basic intelligence necessary to completing the classes. But now that this one class is over, it just doesn't seem worthwhile to think of it poorly at all, especially since I thought that, despite everything, it was one of the most meaningful and effective classes I'll probably ever take.
