I met with the director of undergraduate math instruction this morning. He wanted to know what specific problem in my homework was giving me trouble. I said it was getting to the tree and bypassing the forest a little too quickly. He insisted he wanted to get to the tree immediately.
In the interest of getting along with the guy, I tried to give an example of the onerous work-outs that characterized the vast majority of homework. He wanted to know what page and what problem I was having problems with. I tried to explain that wasn't the point of my visit. He insisted on seeing a specific problem. I found one that was similar to a problem that sent me scurring through my algebra reviews and flash cards on Saturday. This seemed to satisfy him.
Once he had connected with me at that level, I tried to raise the level of the conversation to the differences in expectation between the liberal arts student and the IT student. He told me I was taking a CLA math class, and that IT students took a different curriculum. That was scary. I suggested there could be a less draconian presentation for, say, 30 urban studies students that were interested in developing their modelling skills or understanding without the equivalent of a military boot camp. I suggested that making eye contact with the students and making sure that at least the average student in the class completely understood the progression of symbolic processes on the blackboard might enhance the experience. This seemed to be loaded territory, as it evinced a defense of the specific professors in question.
Somewhere along the line of the discussion he began to sense that there was no point to our meeting, as far as he could see. He seemed greatly relieved to see me go.
I was half an hour early for my Urban Studies class, so I got a coffee and stared at the sky, wondering if the Two Cultures of C.P. Snow had in fact become a kind of preemptive rationalization for the vasty gulf between the technicians and the policy makers in our society. Doug is a nice guy with a tough job. But the gap in teaching this kind of material to the people who need it is not narrowing because of the advent of personal computers. It needs attention.
I hope I can contribute to that attention in a positive way.
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