NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/educatio/5592

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-30 | 3.4 KB

From: [e-mail] (Don Pettengill [CT R+D])
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 01:31:57 GMT
Subject: Re: Math ( and other ) education.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: The Land of Nod
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpl-opus!donp
Newsgroups: misc.education
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Sad tale. Yes, it happens here too - my attempt at communication with
a local university Physics department was similarly spurned.

But all is not lost.

Go out and buy books covering the material you need to learn (better
yet, use the library first). Start studying on your own. It's not
impossible! If you feel you are doing fine on your own, great. If you
need assistance, go to your university math/science department and
glom onto some professor. Find out where the notice boards are and
advertise for an impoverished grad student to help you. Ask for
references, when you get a reply. For textbook suggestions, find out
what the course books are for the courses you would otherwise take -
if they would have you. Look also at the McGraw Hill "Schaum" series,
very cheap and covering a wide range of topics - good for practice,
zillions of worked examples, but not always the best for
understanding. Don't rely on any single text for the absolute truth,
but feel free to use most the book(s) that best suit(s) you.

Other ideas:  ask the professors if you can audit one or two classes.
Spin a tale about "thinking of going back to school".  Many will wish to
help.  See which students appear the most attentive and interested.
Meet them.  Offer to pay for a copy of their class notes, tests, problem
sets, etc.  Ask grad students, or upper classmen, for their suggestion
on books/topics.  Join the national society(ies?)  for mathematics - a
university librarian will know the name,
Society-for-Pure-and-Applied-Mathematics or something or other.  Phone
the officers and ask if any local tutoring might be available.  Or if
they have or recommend any good educational materials.  Scour your
bookstores for texts that look interesting and that have plently of
examples amd exercises.  Get the teacher's edition of books via a
friendly professor but DO NOT LOOK AT them - you will find the urge to
simply look up the answers to hard problems, irresistable.  Loan them to
your tutor, or entrust them to your wife.

In short, the will to get even with the bums that won't let you in
their school, and to show 'em what you can do on your own, is your
best asset. Really it's a blessing in disguise, for this reason: you
*have to do the work yourself no matter what*, and as a practical
matter most professors can do little other than regurgitate their
texts, anyway. Use the information you gain from school curricula
to pace yourself (ie that's the *minimum* you should be getting done
in a given time).

You will almost certainly amaze yourself if you work hard at it, and
you will have the pleasure of knowing you did it all yourself. And
next time you want to know something, the process will be much easier.

Of course, others may disagree with what I have written above. Caveat
emptor. This may not work for someone who has trouble learning from
books, but, absent some physical or mental disability, book skills are
enormously useful and well worth the effort to acquire. Try it;
the worst that can happen is you'll be out a few $$ for books.

whatever you do, good luck -

don pettengill