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The Pub - Belph's Battle with Anorexia

I was in Computer Science so I couldn't take those courses but I TA'ed one in my last semester. A new prof took over and revamped the curriculum so it was about websites and the entire Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access). That was an upgrade from the previous year where the course covered such advanced topics as left-clicking vs. right-clicking and how to drag and drop.
 
Dan O said:
Did any of you guys have to take a basic computer concepts class in school?? It seems a bit like a waste of a course. Five weeks of talking about how website and Microsoft word works.
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Yes and our prof was hoot. The class was once a week and lasted 3 hours. When he came in to class he said "Morning" and when the class ended he said "That's enough for this day". That's it. Those were the only things he said. The assignments were online and every other thing was there too. He also changed the rules of the assignments after giving us the said assignment. Like we would finish a task or something and return it to him for grading and he would say "there's this mistake" and we would say "the guide didn't say anything about it" and he would reply "it does now".
 
I remember having to take a computing class at university, and instead of that sort of "this is how you turn on a computer" class, I took an introduction to programming. I did the same sort of thing when I chose to take calculus instead of "linear algebra" to fill a math requirement.

Which raises an issue I have with university - if I take a class that is more challenging, where I stand to learn more and gain more from it, it's more work for a grade that's probably not as good. It seems wrong that you have to choose between a higher GPA and learning more.
 
Tosa said:
I remember having to take a computing class at university, and instead of that sort of "this is how you turn on a computer" class, I took an introduction to programming. I did the same sort of thing when I chose to take calculus instead of "linear algebra" to fill a math requirement.

Which raises an issue I have with university - if I take a class that is more challenging, where I stand to learn more and gain more from it, it's more work for a grade that's probably not as good. It seems wrong that you have to choose between a higher GPA and learning more.
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GPA only really matters if someone is looking at doing more schooling, in which case I'd think that they would be willing to put in the extra work to get a good grade in a harder and possibly more useful course because they are fairly serious about their education.

If someone was simply planning on getting an undergrad degree and getting a job they should just take whatever courses are interesting or useful to them. I've hired plenty of new grads and never once asked what their GPA was and I think that's pretty common.
 
I was a math and Econ major and linear algebra is way more difficult than calculus. Granted, calculus is more applicable to the real world and for non-math majors. But believe me, if you were concerned about your GPA, then you were better off taking calculus.
 
Yeah I actually did better in Calc I and Calc II than I did in Linear Matrix Algebra. I think Calc I was my highest mark over my 4 years.
 
Ya calc I and II were the last math classes that I actually enjoyed. From linear algebra and on, I hated myself for going for a math major.
 
Our beginner computer class was quite a bit more advanced than that. We had to do basically learn all Microsoft Apps (Word, Excel, Access, and Frontpage). One of the final things was building a website. The book literally talked you step by step on how to do each thing. You were always allowed to use the book, so anyone who could follow directions and had some basic computer knowledge should have got an "A".

It was somewhat useful though as I had a pretty good understanding of Excel and Access afterwords. I also understood the basics of a website and how it gets published and such. I thought it was a good class.
 
Porch_Rabbit said:
Ya calc I and II were the last math classes that I actually enjoyed. From linear algebra and on, I hated myself for going for a math major.
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I kinda fell into a math minor. I had to take a lot of the lower level courses for Comp. Sci. (Calc, Matrix Algebra, Stats, and Set Theory I think) so when I needed more upper year courses to fill the requirements the only area that I had the requirements for was more math. So I believe that meant I ended up taking 10 math courses total over 4 years. Even though I'm good at math and tend to enjoy it that was enough for me. I can't imagine having to take the 20-25 courses a major requires.

Oblivian said:
Our beginner computer class was quite a bit more advanced than that. We had to do basically learn all Microsoft Apps (Word, Excel, Access, and Frontpage). One of the final things was building a website. The book literally talked you step by step on how to do each thing. You were always allowed to use the book, so anyone who could follow directions and had some basic computer knowledge should have got an "A".

It was somewhat useful though as I had a pretty good understanding of Excel and Access afterwords. I also understood the basics of a website and how it gets published and such. I thought it was a good class.
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Those sorts of skills are super-useful but I think a lot of people overlook them. The ability to use basic features like using styles to format a document and generate an automatic table of contents or build basic formulas in Excel are pretty practical in the professional world but I know a lot of people that are lacking even the most basic ability other than "type words in and fiddle with the formatting".
 
Oblivian said:
Our beginner computer class was quite a bit more advanced than that. We had to do basically learn all Microsoft Apps (Word, Excel, Access, and Frontpage). One of the final things was building a website. The book literally talked you step by step on how to do each thing. You were always allowed to use the book, so anyone who could follow directions and had some basic computer knowledge should have got an "A".

It was somewhat useful though as I had a pretty good understanding of Excel and Access afterwords. I also understood the basics of a website and how it gets published and such. I thought it was a good class.
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I'm most definitely not complaining that it's chill, or that I'm not learning much. The last class was pretty thorough so a break is nice.

I just feel like maybe some of the students aren't getting their dollars worth.

And, admittedly, I'll probably still barely clear an 80 as I'm missing a bunch of the homework.
 
Basic computer skills is a good class, but I can definitely see it being way too slow for today's generation. When I was in it was back around 2000 and the world wasn't near as tech as it is now.

Another class that would be good for most to take or have in high school is money management. It is amazing how bad people are at understanding basic money management items and other finance related things like an amortization schedule.
 
^^^Yup. I had no idea how to buy a house or finance a vehicle when I graduated high school, but I could speak a little French so that's all you need. Right?
 
Ethan said:
^^^Yup. I had no idea how to buy a house or finance a vehicle when I graduated high school, but I could speak a little French so that's all you need. Right?
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Oui.

Had to open the shop today for the first time alone. Turns out being the only librarian in a town of about 2000 people isn't as fun as it sounds. Managed to read a book in 7 hours though which has to be a new personal record.
 
At one point, there was the assumption that basic life skills, like finance, and how to cook, would be taught by parents. Or at least some sort of parental figure. How valid this was at the time, and how much of it was a fiction, I'm not sure.

But now, it seems that a lot of people aren't learning these skills from the parents, so there's the expectation that schools step-up and do that job. Which seems reasonable enough on it's own, although it does seem that there's an ever increasing wish list of things schools should do, as well as wanting more work on core academics, but not the corresponding desire to pay for all that.
 
World Cup...

Holy crap Brazil is getting stomped. 3-0 and we're less than 30 minutes in. oops 4-0. wow. annnnnd it's 5-0
 
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DrBdan said:
World Cup...

Holy crap Brazil is getting stomped. 3-0 and we're less than 30 minutes in. oops 4-0. wow.
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5-0 and still a half left! This is a fucking curb stomping in effect, probably once in a lifetime. The entire cup has been a psychedelic experience
 
Mein Gott!:eek:

This is Blitzkrieg Football!
 
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The Final Solution to the Brazilian Question.
 
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