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The rewards are different, too. There is no level of mathematical achievement that will get the kind of broad (but typically local) social status and public app
by papeda 7y ago
The rewards are different, too. There is no level of mathematical achievement that will get the kind of broad (but typically local) social status and public approval of being a starting high school quarterback. Math just doesn't tap into anything near as easy and primal.
- daveFNbuck 7y agoThat's true, but I've seen years where an enthusiastic professor gets a packed room for a normally undersubscribed elective course like computational complexity theory or advanced algorithms.
- majos 7y agoTrue, but there's a heavy selection going on there. A packed complexity class might mean 50? enthusiastic undergrads out of several hundred math/cs students at a university. A dedicated and charismatic professor might be instrumental in turning an interested computer science student into a raging algorithmist (indeed, I actually think a lot of computer science grad students study what they study because somebody appropriately passionate introduced it to them), but converting a just-here-for-the-requirement high schooler is a different story.
- daveFNbuck 7y agoThe football team also has a heavy selection bias. Personally, I got into CS because there was a required intro class at my undergrad. A dedicated and charismatic professor noticed my aptitude and encouraged me to take the next course and consider a CS major. This could easily have happened in high school if my high school had a required CS course.