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> Conversely, if someone was a math wiz, they could use the extra time not spent studying math to study literature, or whatever else. If a math wiz can ace the

> Conversely, if someone was a math wiz, they could use the extra time not spent studying math to study literature, or whatever else. If a math wiz can ace their math class without studying I'd question why they're not taking a harder math class. Alternately if the math wiz want to focus more on literature (or whatever else) this semester wouldn't it more efficient to skip the math class entirely? Maybe in high school or mandatory undergraduate courses I could imagine a rationale for deliberately taking easy courses, but I've encountered students in graduate-level courses at an expensive private university that could have passed the final exam on the first day. I can't fathom why anyone would waste so much of their own time and money on a class that isn't going to teach them anything.

matart 5y ago
When I was in university for engineering I didn't get a choice which classes I took. You took the classes that were part of your degree. You also didn't get a ton of flexibility in when you take a course. Courses were generally offered once per year as all students would progress at the same rate.
dbsmith83 5y ago
> If a math wiz can ace their math class without studying I'd question why they're not taking a harder math class. Alternately if the math wiz want to focus more on literature (or whatever else) this semester wouldn't it more efficient to skip the math class entirely? ... I can't fathom why anyone would waste so much of their own time and money on a class that isn't going to teach them anything. I agree, but unfortunately you can't just test out of required classes much of the time.
omegaham 5y ago
The college typically requires a bunch of classes. You can't test out of them. This was a pain for me when I started college at 23; I'd been programming as a hobby since I was 16, but was shoved into intro-level classes anyway. I spent the classes learning tooling, so it wasn't a complete waste of time, but it wasn't very productive.
- asoneth 5y ago
  That must have been disappointing. I've also heard of the reverse part of that problem in which half of the students in intro-level CS classes end up feeling discouraged because half the class already has substantial programming experience.

matart 5y ago

When I was in university for engineering I didn't get a choice which classes I took. You took the classes that were part of your degree. You also didn't get a ton of flexibility in when you take a course. Courses were generally offered once per year as all students would progress at the same rate.

dbsmith83 5y ago

> If a math wiz can ace their math class without studying I'd question why they're not taking a harder math class. Alternately if the math wiz want to focus more on literature (or whatever else) this semester wouldn't it more efficient to skip the math class entirely? ... I can't fathom why anyone would waste so much of their own time and money on a class that isn't going to teach them anything. I agree, but unfortunately you can't just test out of required classes much of the time.

omegaham 5y ago

The college typically requires a bunch of classes. You can't test out of them. This was a pain for me when I started college at 23; I'd been programming as a hobby since I was 16, but was shoved into intro-level classes anyway. I spent the classes learning tooling, so it wasn't a complete waste of time, but it wasn't very productive.

asoneth 5y ago
That must have been disappointing. I've also heard of the reverse part of that problem in which half of the students in intro-level CS classes end up feeling discouraged because half the class already has substantial programming experience.