Amazing story on a no-less amazing teenager.
Also, I love the handwritten slide on one of the photos. Very nice.
At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
91–100 of 186 posts
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think it would be a waste of this girl's time to be forced to learn about and write about random subjects that don't interest her. This is a common STEM view, but it is inherently wrong. IMHO it dates back to the unfortunate divide between science and the liberal arts, whereas both were once considered a single field, now days there is disdain and mistrust between the two sides. The point of history classes isn't…
But that isn't how it works in reality, at least in the US. In reality, outside of their major (and sometimes inside it too), students usually pick the absolute easiest classes that satisfy the requirements. The ones that are known that the teacher doesn't take attendance are heavily desired. And the university is happy to oblige. Departments are funded based on a formula of how many students are in their classes, an…
> In reality, outside of their major (and sometimes inside it too), students usually pick the absolute easiest classes that satisfy the requirements.
In reality, no one eats healthy food, everyone eats fast food hamburgers all day. Just look at the sales numbers of fast food / junk food VS organic lunch salad bars!
Except, that isn't true. Some people eat junk food all day, and some people choose to eat healthy. Obviously in America we have a bit of a bias, but just looking at averages doesn't give a complete picture.
> The ones that are known that the teacher doesn't take attendance are heavily desired.
Almost none of my university classes took attendance. Why would they? We were paying to be there, if we wanted to waste our money, it wasn't the university's problem.
> So most departments offer enormous 1 level classes with 200 students taught with minimal rigor
Reading books and writing essay's doesn't require rigor, the learning is in the doing. I put in honest work to learn and I got honest feedback from my 100 and 200 level professors, which was all I expected.
> And on top of that the frats all keep collections of graded tests from every class for years past
Almost none of my GE classes used multiple choice tests. They were typically essay tests, written in class.
I should note I did my GE requirements at a local community college, where class sizes averaged ~20-30 students, professors had office hours, and I think I only saw a TA once.
> This isn't education. This isn't worth six figures.
The price is too high yes, but a university is place to go where you can dedicate yourself fully to learning, hopefully w/o other outside worries (sky high tuition ruins that...). What a person chooses to do with that time is up to them.
Now one can argue that the worth of a degree is lessened by students who didn't actually learn all that much also being in possession of one. That is a closely related, but separate topic.
That said, the poster I was originally replying to was indirectly advocating for not caring about one's GE classes, and I was replying that one should indeed care, because those classes are incredibly important!
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Jeez... what a damning indictment of today's Universities. There’s a modern phenomenon I’ve been thinking about but have struggled to put a name to. Everything just becomes so generalized, streamlined that it becomes impossible to operate outside of the pre defined “happy path”. AI will make this increase 100x as taking humans out of the loop seems to accelerate this process.
Perhaps the term "canalization" fits? Coined by C.H. Waddington, describing the process of forming a chreode in a homeorhetic system. But it doesn't really encompass the "everything becomes overly generalized" concept you mentioned. Rather, it's more about robustness against perturbation of a trajectory in a conceptual space. Christopher Alexander called them 'paths in configuration space'.
Object orientation applied to life.
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#94> Only the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University were willing to welcome her straight into a doctoral program. She’ll start at Maryland in the fall. When she finishes, it will be her first degree. Jeez... what a damning indictment of today's Universities. She could just use her publication as a dissertation and be done with it!
> Jeez... what a damning indictment of today's Universities. > She could just use her publication as a dissertation and be done with it. I’m not suggesting this person is doing anything fraudulent as she seems quite impressive. However, educational institutions get constant requests from parents who want their children to skip far ahead before they’re ready. It’s a competitive world and they know that being able to c…
Clearly the correct method is: publish your “dissertation” first, then apply for admittance to the PhD program.
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#95> Only the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University were willing to welcome her straight into a doctoral program. She’ll start at Maryland in the fall. When she finishes, it will be her first degree. Jeez... what a damning indictment of today's Universities. She could just use her publication as a dissertation and be done with it!
> Jeez... what a damning indictment of today's Universities. > She could just use her publication as a dissertation and be done with it. I’m not suggesting this person is doing anything fraudulent as she seems quite impressive. However, educational institutions get constant requests from parents who want their children to skip far ahead before they’re ready. It’s a competitive world and they know that being able to c…
IIRC Erik Demaine was also homeschooled, skipped college, got a very early PhD, and joined the MIT math faculty as a teenager (he is a full professor there now). Johnny von Neumann OTOH went through a "normal" secondary education partly because his parents wanted him to have traditional social exposure to kids his age while he was growing up. His math training was very accelerated though, and he had professional level research publications at 17.
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#96I hope she doesn't burn out and move into the woods like Grothendieck, Kaczynski,
Kaczynski was really not on the same level. By several orders of magnitude.
I mean, force feed her massive doses of LSD and use elite psyops to incessantly harass her as a ̶ ̶p̶r̶a̶n̶k̶ science experiment and maybe
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#97> Only the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University were willing to welcome her straight into a doctoral program. She’ll start at Maryland in the fall. When she finishes, it will be her first degree. Jeez... what a damning indictment of today's Universities. She could just use her publication as a dissertation and be done with it!
I see your point, but undergraduate degrees should provide a wide foundation, with little specialization. As you progress to a masters degree, you become more specialized. A doctorate is as specialized as it gets. It is entirely possible for people to intensely focus on a very, very narrow thing - and ignore everything else. Even to such a degree that they can write a doctorate on it. But I don't think that's a good…
I'm not sure higher ed's educational philosophy is serving students all that well. The breadth of education is a shallow survey at best that is quickly forgotten exactly one semester later.
Thankfully the workforce has common sense and will happily snap her up into employment.
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s one of the biggest problems? Not pushing people into higher educational programs with little societal or economic value but huge loads of debt?
The debt part is just a US thing, but the rest of us still have the other problems.
australia copied the US in that regard. they used to say we were the 51st state but i dont even think we qualify as that... a territory perhaps?
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see your point, but undergraduate degrees should provide a wide foundation, with little specialization. As you progress to a masters degree, you become more specialized. A doctorate is as specialized as it gets. It is entirely possible for people to intensely focus on a very, very narrow thing - and ignore everything else. Even to such a degree that they can write a doctorate on it. But I don't think that's a good…
I'm not sure higher ed's educational philosophy is serving students all that well. The breadth of education is a shallow survey at best that is quickly forgotten exactly one semester later. Thankfully the workforce has common sense and will happily snap her up into employment.
> The breadth of education is a shallow survey at best that is quickly forgotten exactly one semester later.
Your own experience isn't generally applicable. Although it was a couple decades ago, I still use various things I learned from my non-major classes pretty much daily.
Re: At 17, Hannah Cairo solved a major math mystery
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s one of the biggest problems? Not pushing people into higher educational programs with little societal or economic value but huge loads of debt?
The debt part is just a US thing, but the rest of us still have the other problems.
Not remotely true, and the US isn't even the worst. Students in the UK graduate with more debt.