On 11/09/2005 03:36 PM, Hans Fugal wrote:
I agree, for myself, but I'd modify it a bit. If there's no
_motivation_, then learning theory is like memorizing a phonebook. If
there's motivation (the names and numbers are all the hot girls in your
high school for example), then it's a different story.
I was like Ross, and loved 252. I think Ross and I both probably saw
at least at a subconscious level the application to problem solving a la
the programming we all love to do.
I agree with that completely - and as I've read through this topic I
realized a few reasons why I may have enjoyed my database class more
than many of the other students who had a hard time with it:
1) I had worked the previous summer as a programmer on an application
that dealt with an Oracle database. I'd had to write basic queries,
design basic tables, etc. I'd seen the design of our production
database and as I went through the class I had something to compare the
theory to. I may not have had a directly practical application
presented as part of the course, but I had one already built in my mind.
2) The teacher was a mathematician and I was a
statistician-in-training. Because of our heavy math backgrounds I think
I was able to understand him a little better than many of the business
students in the class who had been avoiding math for years.
Along the way in my statistics core I took a class on survey sampling
where we were involved with the exit poll for that year. Because of the
amount of work involved with the exit poll, not much theory was taught.
In consequence, I didn't enjoy the class very much and didn't really
learn anything of value. In fact, I sold my textbook on Amazon not too
long ago because I saw no use in keeping it around.
There has to be a balance between theory and practice. Too much theory
and you're not sure why you're doing what you're doing. A math teacher
I once had who loved to go over proofs comes to mind. Too much practice
and it's easy to get bogged down in doing things instead of doing things
well and it's hard to excel in the area. In my case, with the survey
sampling class, it turned an area I was mildly interested in to one that
I had no desire to learn about. I think that is the essence of a good
teacher - one who is able to keep a students interest while teaching him
good theory and mixing in enough practice to make him at least a little
usefull when the class is over. If he's done his job, the prepared
student will want to learn more on his own after the class is over. If
he's failed, the prepared student will sell his book back to the
bookstore in hopes of never encountering the subject again. I say here
prepared student because some students are going to struggle no matter
what the teacher does. Some students are going to lose interest no
matter what the teacher does. But in the ideal combination of prepared
student + good teacher there's a lot that can happen.
--Tyler
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