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Lessons of an MIT Education

math.tamu.edu

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Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#161

Post by trendia »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #105
sabujp wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

was the person incompetent or did he/she not get along

> fired for incompetence Surely that was clear enough?

In defense of the person you're replying to, a lot of large corporations have "employee improvement plans" that are designed specifically to create documentation that can justify a firing, especially when that firing is for some other reason (e.g. "not getting along"). The improvement plans have nothing to do with getting the employee back on track, but rather to either 1) show that the employee is unable to keep up with artificially high work demands, or 2) get the employee frustrated enough to quit.

That means that when a person is fired, the stated reason for that firing is not always the same as the real reason.

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#162

Post by taysic »

bjourne wrote: post #41

> Lesson Six: You must measure up to a very high level of performance. I can imagine a propective student or parent asking, "Why should I (or my child) take calculus at MIT rather than at Oshkosh College? Isn't the material practically identical, no matter where it is taught, while the cost varies a great deal?" Is there any truth to this? Because it seem like classical university jingoism to me. "My institution is b…

As an MIT grad, what I particularly found challenging was the fast pace of work and the tough scoring on exams - not so much the subject matter. I wasn't impressed with this aspect of the education because I like taking my time with subject matter until I really understand it but I didn't feel like there was time to do so while there.

That method seems to encourage superficial understanding unless you're willing to devote a large chunk of your time to working. And by that I mean nearly all day. There is a strong culture of pushing those boundaries. For me, MIT helped me realize the importance and value of life/work balance more than anything. I do my best work when self-directed and moving at my own pace - not cramming for exams. But I am just one data point. I'm sure it worked well for others.

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#164

Post by harrisjt »

dougmwne wrote: post #6

The author was quite harsh on the soft sciencies and humanities and I'm going to attempt a defense. First, he characterises these subjects as merely what, facts to be learned, instead of how, skills to be mastered. Let's take history, which seems very what, full of dates and names. A great course in history teaches you how to think differently and with deeper context about world events and your country's politics. I…

Ya, lots of history courses have a discussion along side that teach how to interpret texts instead of fact memorizing. These skills are surprisingly useful.

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#165

Post by kmill »

foldr wrote: post #23
hudibras wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think he was that harsh, and he actually praised the "knowing what" subjects. He simply meant that at MIT , the "knowing how" is more important.

What I don't understand about this comparison is that there's actually an awful lot of "knowing what" involved in math and science too. You won't get far in solving math problems if you try to derive everything from first principles. You could make fun of historians for learning lists of dates, but you could also make fun of mathematicians for learning lists of trigonometric identities.

It is true that you need to remember a lot of things to do math effectively, but a big difference between knowing dates and knowing theorems is that you can re-derive the theorems by yourself given enough time. A not-insignificant reason I got into mathematics was that I have difficulty remembering specifics, so I could lean on reinvention.

I frequently forget the trig identities, but I know the basic definitions of trigonometry and that there ought to be certain identities, so I know I can re-derive them or look them up. But, I only need to do this when I teach calculus.

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#166

Post by oblio »

wallace_f wrote: post #119
mabub24 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're mischaracterizing humanities as not falsifiable as if it should be like mathematics. The content is not wrong in the same way a math question is, but many humanities classes are explicitly about taking arguments presented in essays, books, journals, by the government, by public interest groups, by private industry, and testing them against "objective reality and truth that exists around them." No human…

>No humanities course just takes every argument at face value. Every argument is subject to intense scrutiny Here is Orwell on the matter: >"When the nautical screw was first invented, there was a controversy that lasted for years as to whether screw-steamers or paddle-steamers were better. The paddle-steamers, like all obsolete things, had their champions, who supported them by ingenious arguments. Finally, however,…

Until we come up with a mathematical model for human interaction or other humanities, we have to make do with what we've got.

Who knows if it is even possible to model human interactions?

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#167

Post by ooronning »

pkrumins wrote: post #159
ooronning wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

found the self-taught programmer :) No offense intended; I'm self-taught as well and can appreciate the sentiment immensely. But damn do I wish I made a few different decisions during high school. I'm ~1 year into my web development career and I'm concerned about what happens when I get bored of building APIs and web apps -- I seem to have a talent for picking up new skills pretty quickly, but I'm afraid my lack of f…

Come work for me. I only hire people without college degrees. I consider college degrees a red flag.

Why's that, might I ask? I've seen statistics that I haven't verified that indicate that while somewhere between 25 and 40% of CS undergrads aren't able to find work as programmers, around 40% of professional programmers don't have a CS degree. And I'm really not sure what to make of this.

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#168

Post by escherplex »

rhizome wrote: post #149
mcguire wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that mathematics is only falsifiable in that sense because it is built entirely on assumptions. Mathematics isn't really a science.

I think you've taken Gödel too far.

Exactly. Next thing you know people will be claiming that it's possible to generate ambiguities in any formal system.

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#169

Post by mnglkhn2 »

allenz wrote: post #115
mnglkhn2 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And "the world of people" needs to be driven by a coherent set of principles. So far the western world subscribed to rational thought and the socratic method. The question is, to what extent the current shape of humanities is aligned to those principles?!

To the extent that the humanities are not "rational", whatever that means, they are a valuable and useful complement, and the world need not be driven by rationalism alone. The humanities teach how to look from multiple perspectives, our values, what we believe and why, our self and our relation to society. It teaches critical thinking and analysis of complex, nonquantifiable factors, such as: should we declare war o…

Postmodernism revealed what happens when you look (intently) at ALL possibilities before you properly define YOUR identity and set of values.

Surprisingly, even Macron articulated that maybe Western world needs "great story arcs", which is code word for SHARED IDEALS.

War is always an attribute of survival and the problem is that US population is pretty insulated from acute strife on the survival front. But the risks are there and can only be appreciated once you train in geopolitics.

Re: Lessons of an MIT Education

#170

Post by oblio »

mmirate wrote: post #155
dougmwne wrote: post #6

The author was quite harsh on the soft sciencies and humanities and I'm going to attempt a defense. First, he characterises these subjects as merely what, facts to be learned, instead of how, skills to be mastered. Let's take history, which seems very what, full of dates and names. A great course in history teaches you how to think differently and with deeper context about world events and your country's politics. I…

> treat people as machines We are machines. Squishy, carbon-based machines with certain unique computational capabilities, I'll grant - but still, machines.

Armed with this insight, does it actually help us interact with humans? I'd argue that it does not...
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