Comparing Classes

The differences in how classes are administered is striking. Take a couple of classes that I'm a part of this term, for instance: Intro to Mathematical Statistics II and Applied Stochastic Models.

Both classes have the same prerequisite and both are crosslisted as both senior-level and graduate level courses. Conceptually, Stochastic is substantially harder than Math Stats, I think.

In Math Stats we have weekly homework assignments and a recitation. At the recitation, we have an hour with the teaching assistant to ask him about specific homework questions, which he solves for us. In addition, he gives us solutions to each of the homework problems. We have a quiz the next day consisting of, essentially, a few of the assigned homework problems. Really, there's not much of an excuse for doing poorly on the homework quizzes, because you have the solutions to study from, even if (you're a slacker and) you don't do the homework on your own.

Stochastic, however, is much more intense. We're given weekly homework assignments, but there is no recitation and we are not even allowed to talk to each other about the problems. We can't compare answers or ask the teacher about them out of class. The only time we can receive help if we're stuck (and we receive hints, not solutions) is at the beginning of class periods. The professor does this because he believes it is very important that everyone be on equal footing and have equal information about the homework assignments.

The only similar type of situation I can think of right off hand is two classes I've taken involving computer programming. There, homework assignments are programs you have to write. A teacher can't just "give solutions" to students who are stuck. You have to think long and hard to try and figure it out. Unless you find the right T.A. who will say, "oh, ok," take the mouse from you, write a little code (to fix my pointers - that I didn't understand - for you comp sci guys), and wa la, it works.

But very rarely have homework assignment solutions been so difficult to obtain. It causes you to spend a lot of time thinking about them, and gives you great satisfaction when you discover the correct solution. The tendancy, if the solutions are as close as the professor's door, is to think about the problem a little, get stuck, and then ask for help.

Circumstances, of course, change from day to day. One day you're banging your head against the wall, the next you find away around the brick obstruction and things are happy again. Good, bad, happy, sad. How to escape the roller coaster?

Hmm.

I wonder if there's anything in the world that doesn't change. For anything. Ever.

If we could just find that, then boom, the roller coaster could become a steady 55 mph drive over a smooth highway.

If only it were that easy. It is, in theory. In practice, it seems like there can be times of quite a bit of roller coasting action. But like CG says, the hard times can act as a catalyst to help us form a deeper, more passionate relationship with God.

Misery

It's a strange thing, misery. They say that it loves company, but sometimes it can seem like everyone is a million miles away.

There are billions of people on the planet, maybe a couple thousand that you know. But when things really start taking a turn for the worse, who really cares? Who really knows? All 6 billion continue their lives as if nothing was wrong with you, you walk out on the street with a sinking feeling in your chest and everyone walks around like nothing's wrong.

But something is wrong. YOU know it, and the knowledge makes you lonely.

Even telling someone doesn't always make it better. Often, you can't communicate the depths of your feelings, so it comes off as "just a bad day." You find it difficult to communicate just how bad you're feeling. It's hard to care for someone when you haven't gone through it before, at least I find it so. It's hard to really get torn up about something you're not personally involved in.

I've been experiencing some of these feelings. Unfortunately, these types of feelings crop up when my circumstances take a dive downward. One of the hardest things to do in the whole world is to allow your outlook to remain wholly unaffected by circumstances.

But God does give perspective when you sit back and let him. Speaking of which - another difficult thing, though easier than the circumstances conundrum.

Forget about what I said about the stress lessening. It goes up and down, but yesterday was not a good day in that respect.

Finally some pressure is beginning to lessen. In a way. In other ways, there's other things - different things - that could just be heating up. And you know what happens when you heat something up: it expands. If there's nowhere for it to go, guess what? Pressure.

I wrote an Energy Recommendation report recently at the IAC, one of the few (energy as opposed to productivity) that I've ever done. There were lots of numbers to crunch and I, naive about industrial applications as I am, wrote it using SI units. My boss called me on it and we discussed how SI is not used in American industry, how that it would drive them crazy trying to get their head around a temperature difference of 13.4 degrees Celcius or a mass flow rate of 170,000 grams/minute. He laughed (I was chuckling just a bit ago as I thought about it) and wondered that no switch had gone off in my head about this. But no, not at all. I was delightfully unencumbered by convention.

However, to show the superiority of SI, answer me this: Is a "pound" (lb) a unit of force or mass?

To be fair, though, to show the superiority of English units, how many centimeters across is your thumb and how many meters long is your foot?

A Profound Thought

It is much more important what you are, than what you do.

This non-original-with-me comment is in the context of a Christian person attempting to discern the will of God as to what he/she is to do in life. All grandiose plans for God are useless without a rock-solid commitment to growing in your relationship with the Lover of your soul. We should focus on being instead of doing.