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I’d have more sympathy if this were someone from the inner city or rural America. But they’re in Princeton crying about not getting answers to problem sets. As
by mathattack 5y ago
I’d have more sympathy if this were someone from the inner city or rural America. But they’re in Princeton crying about not getting answers to problem sets. As if the first time they’re not spoon fed something, it’s time to trash the department. If you can afford Princeton, buy a linear algebra book with solutions. It’s as if a Math major said, “Oh I would love to read Hemingway but there is nobody in the English department to tell me what questions are on the test. How can a Math major learn to read? Where in the world might I find a clue about Hemingway?”
Yes - math education can be awful, but this snowflake needs to lose the entitlement.
- dboreham 5y agoIf you read the article they say that they did achieve success in the class, but the experience could have been much better/easier. Only if you believe that an ivy league institution is there to provide a kind of S&M experience for its students does your comment ring true.
- PaulHoule 5y agoI'm shocked with how inarticulate the author is. I'm not getting any idea of what math class they are taking or what they expected to get about it. You'd expect a humanities student to be able to explain themselves better. The one well-developed complaint is the one about not getting the answers. On one hand that sounds almost calculated to provoke the reaction that you had, but on the other hand for every math class I've taken I turned in the problem sets and had them get graded with corrections that were useful.
- mathattack 5y agoThis sounds like problem sets above and beyond the homework. As in “Prior tests have problems like these…”
- Jtsummers 5y agoIt's pretty clear from the first paragraph that it's a linear algebra class.
- cjbgkagh 5y agoHonestly I read the whole article and didn't pick up on which field of math either despite it being clearly stated several times. I think my brain couldn't accept the idea that someone was complaining publically about Linear Algebra being difficult.
- dml2135 5y agoWhen you're paying the absolutely astronomical cost for an Ivy League institution, I think you're entitled to competent instruction.
- defen 5y agoPrinceton is 100% free if your parental income is below $65,000; you only have to pay for room and board (not tuition) if parental income is below $160,000. Regardless, you're not paying for instruction. You're paying for networking, access to world-class experts in your field of study, a name-brand, etc.