The evils of a 'balanced' education...

[newfangle]

Why oh why do you universities require their students to take options? I mean, honestly, we aren't in high school anymore. University is a place for people to learn what they want to learn. If you want to take courses unrelated to your degree, go for it! University is also a place to experiment. But options as requirements for graduation is assinine.

In my case, I am entering my last year of a B.Sc. in mathematics. Of the 40 courses I need to graduate, I am required to take 8 non-science options (2 of which have to be humanities, 2 social science, 4 of any other). That's 20% of my degree. Thousands of dollars. For what? A few regurgitory multiple choice exams on monkeys, feminists, communists, ideal economics, and the alphabets of some long-dead tribe from Clickland? How does this make me a better mathematician?

Logic and other non-math mathy courses only take up so much space. At some point I have to pay to take some atrociously pointless course that drains my soul every second I sit there listening to mundane, pointless verbal arse-discharge.

Arg! I still have 4 more of these buggers to do. And not only do I hate them, they are significantly more work for me than a high-level math course (yes I suppose I have a one-track mind blah blah blah).

Phew, I feel better. Now back to linguistics...

 

[Narz]

Yet another reason why I dropped out.

 

[Cuivienen]

Because there's more to life than mathematics, and the Universities are trying to make sure you don't forget that.

 

[newfangle]

With all do respect, that's exactly the kind of PC crap that encourages this sort of thing.

Why don't trade schools do it with plumbers?

Oh, and would it make sense to tell Einstein there's more to life than physics? Or Gallileo astronomy? Or Michaelangelo art? Puhleeze. Humans specialize for a reason.

 

[shadowdude]

With all do respect, that's exactly the kind of PC crap that encourages this sort of thing.

Why don't trade schools do it with plumbers?

Oh, and would it make sense to tell Einstein there's more to life than physics? Or Gallileo astronomy? Or Michaelangelo art? Puhleeze. Humans specialize for a reason.

Don't forget what happens to the man who is too specialized

 

[newfangle]

Uh, he proves a wicked lemma?

 

[Birdjaguar]

With all do respect, that's exactly the kind of PC crap that encourages this sort of thing.

No its called being educated. the is value in knowing more than a narrow specialty. The tradition goes back for hundreds of years in western education.

Why don't trade schools do it with plumbers?

They should.

Oh, and would it make sense to tell Einstein there's more to life than physics? Or Gallileo astronomy? Or Michaelangelo art? Puhleeze. Humans specialize for a reason.

You are not Einstein, Gallileo or Michelangelo. They had their "crosses" to bear too. Prove your genius and you can skip lots of traditional steps. In my freshman year of college, I *****ed and moaned about the modern civilization course I didn't want to take. They said prove you know it; take this test. I did and got to drop the course.

 

[Cuivienen]

Oh, and would it make sense to tell Einstein there's more to life than physics? Or Gallileo astronomy? Or Michaelangelo art? Puhleeze. Humans specialize for a reason.

Specialization does not mean not knowing anything else. Over half of your courses are in mathematics. That's specialization. Having all of your courses in mathematics (or any discipline) is called Ivory Tower Syndrome.

 

[newfangle]

You are not Einstein, Gallileo or Michelangelo.

All the more reason to focus on my specialization.

They had their "crosses" to bear too. Prove your genius and you can skip lots of traditional steps. .

Unforatunely that is false. No matter how good I am in math, I still have to face the options. Its pretty much the only thing you can't skip.

In my freshman year of college, I *****ed and moaned about the modern civilization course I didn't want to take. They said prove you know it; take this test. I did and got to drop the course.

My point isn't that I know it already, its that I don't care and its a waste of time. Also the fact that I have to pay for it is really irksome.

 

[Babbler]

At least you don't have go to CEGEP. I bet it make you cry.

 

[newfangle]

Specialization does not mean not knowing anything else. Over half of your courses are in mathematics. That's specialization. Having all of your courses in mathematics (or any discipline) is called Ivory Tower Syndrome.

So you can only know something if you've taken a university course in it? THAT sounds like ivory tower BS to me.

 

[Flak]

Why oh why do you universities require their students to take options?

Well, if it's an 'option' then you aren't really required to take it are you? (... probably I had too many English options in school... ).

Anyway the reason for this probably goes back to the Romans. For higher education, they basically believed that a man could only understand nature if they had a well-rounded view of the world. They would often divide the 'education' of their scholars into various fields of specialty and required everyone to demonstrate atleast some working knowledge of every field before they could go on to specialize. That tradition has carried forward to modern society at varying degrees in different countries and cultures. The U.S. and Canada in particular really seem to stress this at the University level.

 

[Cuivienen]

So you can only know something if you've taken a university course in it? THAT sounds like ivory tower BS to me.

Well, if you haven't bothered to try to place out of the course... No, then you don't know it, or at least are not confident enough in your knowledge.

 

[newfangle]

So I can only know something about a subject if I can complete a multiple choice test about it, or write an essay on some inane subtopic?

 

[Cuivienen]

So I can only know something about a subject if I can complete a multiple choice test about it, or write an essay on some inane subtopic?

Hopefully you actually pay attention in the course and try to learn. If you don't, it's not the university's fault you didn't learn anything and just regurgitated on the test.

 

[mdwh]

Because there's more to life than mathematics, and the Universities are trying to make sure you don't forget that.

So why don't people who don't go to University have to take this balanced education, if it's so important?

We live in a specialist society. I'm in the UK, and I did maths - and only maths. I use it in my work, and having to balance it with more courses would just mean more time studying, or less time for learning what I needed for my career.

 

[Leonel]

I did the "take any course you want thing" when I was in university. I ended up having to be class of 2005 instead of 2004 but hey what does women's literature have to do with graphic design in the first place?

 

[pboily]

Why oh why do you universities require their students to take options?

I'm not sure the requirement comes from the university. I mean, the university is the institution that actually enforces it, but it might come from the outside (potential employers).

The math departments, for instance, are training future mathematicians, even if that's not what the students themselves are there for. In the opinion of mathematical professionals (who are responsible for the composition of the curriculum), a good mathematician will need to not only have more than one feather to his/her hat, but will also have done **** that they absolutely hate: it's amazingly good practice for all the annoying administrative tasks one has to deal with and the students that don't give a piece of crap, and it shows the prospective employer you're not a borderline idiot savant. Nobody wants to work with nerds, even mathematicians.

As a result, a department is not going to risk that the star students are less than adequately trained just because some (most?) students don't see the forest for the trees.

Take it from a fellow mathematician, you'll have a much easier time gaining employment in a mathematically-related field if you can show you're not a freakin' math nerd.

 

[newfangle]

Let me return to my initial thesis. We spend a ridiculous 12 years of our lives on 'well-founded' education. Why must we be forced to continue it after we decide what to specialize on?

 

[newfangle]

Take it from a fellow mathematician, you'll have a much easier time gaining employment in a mathematically-related field if you can show you're not a freakin' math nerd.

I agree with this. But again, my problem is not that I think have a one-track mind is a good thing. I have a great deal many other interests and math only encompasses a small part of my life. Yet I still get punished because the guy in the sandals and black socks can't talk to girls.