This started out looking like it was going to be an interesting critique of how undergraduate physics is taught, but it got weird at the end. There is a certai

This started out looking like it was going to be an interesting critique of how undergraduate physics is taught, but it got weird at the end. There is a certain truth to the fact that the physics courses for engineering and life science students often aren't that good. They often do consist of a bunch of repeated relatively simple problems that students can get through by memorizing how to do each particular problem class (inclined plane, projectile motion, weights and springs) rather than by deeply understanding the physical principles involved. So many times, I've had conversations like this with students I've been teaching: "Waah, I can't remember the equations for projectile motion!" "Well neither can I, can't you derive 'em as you go?" Then he goes off on his weird conspiracy theory, though, about how physics classes are deliberately designed to stop smart people from succeeding (!!?!!). In fact the sort of course he describes: What if the curriculum gave you the tools and information to really understand the subject to the point that solving problems was truly a side effect of that understanding? What would that change? Who would succeed; who would fail? does, in fact, exist. It's called "Physics" rather than "Physics for engineers" or "Physics for life sciences", and it's really hard. Actually it's quite easy, if you're smart, at the first year level, but gets very hard towards the third-year level. If that's what he wanted, that's the course he should have taken, not whatever Physics for Vegetables course they happened to offer at UT Knoxville. Seriously though, the author's worldview is seriously flawed if he thinks that physics courses are designed by The Man in order to keep a lid on the brilliant-but-lazy. Physics courses are designed by physics professors, and while we may have our flaws, we're definitely not part of a conspiracy to destroy the brilliant-but-lazy; especially since most of us fell into the brilliant-but-lazy category ourselves.