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21 Feb

312 241 math math math math engineering

I withdrew from Math 312 (Yes! Withdrew! Black mark of shame upon my transcript! Arghhhh) last semester because I just could. not. get. it. Decided to take it again this semester, with much goading and pleading from outside parties, and now it’s one of my favorite classes….

Shit finally makes sense now.

I kinda want to retake 241 just because I BS-ed my way through it last time, and I didn’t realize how applicable it was going to be to future (read: CURRENT) classes. PDEs KILL MEE. ASSUME POSITIVE LAMBDA CAN’T REMEMBER WHY SINH COSH BESSEL FUNCTIONS SLDKFJ:LSKDFJ Actually, can I just retake all my math/sci core classes? I’m starting to feel my already wobbly foundation crumble. 

Now that I have all this hindsight - it would be fantastic to go back in time. Fantastic. I think my biggest downfall was failling to understand the importance of what I was learning when I was taking my core classes. But I’m not the only one feeling likes this - and if it’s an issue with so many students, then that’s saying something about the deparments which design our curriculum.

If there’s so much thought and effort put into designing our curriculum - is it too much to ask to understand why you’re making us take these classes?

I think it might’ve been helpful if somewhere along the line - they went: “HEY. YOU THERE. PAY ATTENTION IN 241. THERE’S GOING TO BE A METRIC FUCK TON OF 2ND ORDER DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS AND FOURIER SERIES AND LEGRANGE MULTIPLIERS COMING UP IN EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO LEARN.” 

I feel like engineers choose to study engineering for one singular reason - and that is utility. We’re interested in applications! Connections to the real world! We love math and science and all that juicy stuff, but there’s a reason I’m studying engineering and not “physics of fluids”.

Hence, it’s not surprising that I want to know why I’m learning what I’m learning. And that’s where CBE, or SEAS, or Penn, or all majors across all colleges fall behind. I talk to so many people who feel like they’re drowning in their major, which happens especially in engineering. The bright-eyed, change-the-world, fuck-yeah-make-bank attitude smothered by the endless tunnel plastered with two many equations and too many problem sets and too many mediocre grades. It’s like we’re shown all these fancy new concepts, but never told why or how they fit into the new picture. No wonder so many people tend to throw them to the side, only to resort to frantically rifling through that dusty pile for the remnants two years later.

Or, maybe, it’s just a function of my own personality. I tend to phase through things, and not really realize the implication of my actions or my experiences until later.

Or, maybe, CBE advisors just suck. Fuck Holleran and him regurgitating everything that’s on the CBE website as answers to my questions. Hey, asshole, I’m not asking you how I can fit another major into my schedule, I’m asking you if I should. Fuck Lazzarra and the “oh.. with that GPA I guess you can get into some Grad School program”. I’m going to need you to be a little more resolution-oriented, guys. Come on now.

That brings me to another point. Maybe studying engineering sucks because engineering professors aren’t engineers. They’re scientists, or they’re researchers, or they’re lecturers. They love the nuances and the itty bitty details and their own research - but they’re not interested in present day, real world situations. They’re not interested in what we’re interested in - and maybe that huge disconnect is the real issue.  

See - for example: Engineering’s most popular class has to be Engineering Econ by Cassel - and it’s fantastic because this guy has so much experience. He’s an adjunct - meaning he’s been there, done that, made a billion dollars doing what we’re trying to learn how to do, and he knows how to teach what we’re interested in finance.

Or, maybe, I should just study more!

…Nah. 

I tend to ramble on Tumblr when I’m at work, and this wasn’t as coherent or as structured as I would’ve liked. I also wanted to talk about walking away from school with tangible tools you can use, and a bunch of other stuff - but, alas, it’s time for Lab. 

Onward!

  1. chawlsrules said: simply fantastic!
  2. tsunamimbw posted this