Re: Constraints and Functional Dependencies
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 20:49:03 +0100 (CET)
Message-ID: <Xns98E696BBC4BB7vdghher_at_194.177.96.26>
> On 1 mar, 19:34, "V.J. Kumar" <vjkm..._at_gmail.com> wrote:
>> "Marshall" <marshall.spi..._at_gmail.com> wrote
>> innews:1172771092.030127.98710_at_k78g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Mar 1, 6:58 am, "Walt" <wami..._at_verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> >> I believe you are correct, but I think the syndrome goes far
>> >> deeper than you have said. Basically, the US educational system
>> >> has evolved a mthodology in which theory is quite simply not
>> >> taught at all. What passes for "theoretical discussion" in an
>> >> American classroom is really and extended introduction to the
>> >> subject matter. The subject matter itself is embodied in a series
>> >> of examples, that illustrate the real meat of what is being
>> >> taught.
>>
>> > OT Free associating:
>>
>> > Conversations with Vadim and others from his part of the world
>> > have convinced me that the point at which the average Russian
>> > student achieves US-graduate-student level mathematical
>> > education is approximately the third grade.
>>
>> This claim is pure and unmitigated bullshit, an experimental result
>> I've arrived at after having associated with many Russians that
>> purportedly had superior math education. I must admit I'd used to be
>> as misguided as you are in this respect, having been fed popular
>> myths about superiority of Russian math education. I'd say idiots
>> are more or less uniformly distributed amongst various ethnicities,
>> and their native educational systems pecularities are almost
>> irrelevant. Granted, there may be cultural influences coming from
>> parents and peers, but that's a different matter altogether.
> Marshall speaks specifically about academic environments not in > general public...
Well, as regards college level math education, if you want real stuff,
you go to
Princeton/Yale/Chicago/whatever_math_school_is_of_interest_to_you, not
to some state college shithole, right ? It's all about choices you are
willing to make provided that you are qualified to make them of course.
If you are not qualified, tough luck, blame your parents or genes,
anyone or anything but yourself ;)
In any case, monetary value of so-called "exact science" education, as my Russian coworkers call it for some reason, is highly overrated. You might be much happier and wealthier selling stuff like cars, or XML databases to even bigger idiots ;) For some reason, some Russians and Asians have not yet grasped these simple truths and are still clinging to the mythical value of math/physics/whatever literally beaten into them by their parent and teachers in their home country secondary schools with military style discipline and curriculum. Received on Thu Mar 01 2007 - 20:49:03 CET