4 ms·

One of the thing that's bothered me about the English education system (basically since I realised what was happening), is that it's basically a continuous proc

One of the thing that's bothered me about the English education system (basically since I realised what was happening), is that it's basically a continuous process of limiting your option. For GCSEs I did 3-4 fewer subjects than the 3 preceding years, for A-Levels I did 8 fewer subjects than that. For university I did exactly one subject. And commitment to a subject at each stage is for the full duration of that stage (more-or-less). There's no concept of dabbling in a subject for a semester to see if it takes. At university, the furthest I could deviate from a pure CS module, was "Russian for Scientists" and a few maths/stats modules. If you wanted to do anything more diverse, you needed to get special permission. I certainly wouldn't have been able to take do a calligraphy module and revolutionise computer typography. And if i'd decided computer science wasn't for me, i'd have had to throw away all degree progress and start over with the new subject, there was no concept of carrying over any accumulated credit into the new degree.

aianus 11y ago
> At university, the furthest I could deviate from a pure CS module, was "Russian for Scientists" and a few maths/stats modules. Lucky you. I was not allowed to take any more Math/CS courses by my last semester because I had already taken 'too many' and needed to fulfill my 'non-math' credit requirements. No joke -- the requirement literally just said 'non-math - 5.0 credits'. What a load of bullshit.
- chris_wot 11y ago
  I'm a guy who is teaching himself mathematics so curious to ask: is there a point where you can't just teach yourself and someone has to actually teach you in person?
  - aianus 11y ago
    If you have the discipline, no, not at the undergrad level at least. But it's a lot more fun with classmates to collaborate with and compete against.
  - charlieegan3 11y ago
    I don't think you ever need to be taught in person - if you get a good teacher it just makes it faster. There are loads of great math videos on YouTube - this is where I've best learned new math concepts recently.
- charlieegan3 11y ago
  We also have a similar requirement. There are CS courses I'd like to take but can't because then I'd not have fulfilled the 'discipline breadth' requirement. I came to uni to study CS and I'd have thought that by the time I'm in my final year I'd be able to do just that. I think it's ok to have a requirement in the first year but after then it's just a pain.

aianus 11y ago

> At university, the furthest I could deviate from a pure CS module, was "Russian for Scientists" and a few maths/stats modules. Lucky you. I was not allowed to take any more Math/CS courses by my last semester because I had already taken 'too many' and needed to fulfill my 'non-math' credit requirements. No joke -- the requirement literally just said 'non-math - 5.0 credits'. What a load of bullshit.

chris_wot 11y ago
I'm a guy who is teaching himself mathematics so curious to ask: is there a point where you can't just teach yourself and someone has to actually teach you in person?
- aianus 11y ago
  If you have the discipline, no, not at the undergrad level at least. But it's a lot more fun with classmates to collaborate with and compete against.
- charlieegan3 11y ago
  I don't think you ever need to be taught in person - if you get a good teacher it just makes it faster. There are loads of great math videos on YouTube - this is where I've best learned new math concepts recently.
charlieegan3 11y ago
We also have a similar requirement. There are CS courses I'd like to take but can't because then I'd not have fulfilled the 'discipline breadth' requirement. I came to uni to study CS and I'd have thought that by the time I'm in my final year I'd be able to do just that. I think it's ok to have a requirement in the first year but after then it's just a pain.