actually, you really don't need great communication skills to be an engineer. if you think that, well, you're just grasping at straws to find some reason for communication to be important.

like that annoying chick said, she knew engineers that couldn't form sentences, and yet, they're engineers....what does that say for the importance of communication. not much/

they make us engineering majors take one online english class. shit's pretty important huh?

6/18/2007 11:10:45 PM

Quote :

"And most of them would be lost without the business and accounting majors"

I have taken a 200 level BUS and Accounting and laughed at how simple it is after hearing all my ACC friends bitch and moan.

Once you learn the "basic concept" it is all simple math. I almost felt dumbed down as the teach was explaining on solving some interest formula using the "e" euler's number for continous interest. I felt like busting out some complex math. BUS and ACC took 4 years to get polished up on those skills in order to perform those tasked for the "engineers" in a company. In industry I am not paid to do the accounting that is someone else's job. Kinda like I may not know how to operate the forklift to get my new test rack to the lab. I pick up the phone and get the labor dude to do that shit for me. A lot of engineers actually due go back to get there MBA or the accounting equilavent so they can be effective managers.

I'll repeat this for anyone who did not go back for my last response on page 1

Quote :

"On average more people can do the "CHASS" work and get those jobs out of college then students excelling and graduating as an engineer. That is why engineers are paid 55K on avg v. the average CHASS degree holder making 35K. If engineering were easier then the economic rational choice would be for everyone to major in engineering."

[Edited on June 18, 2007 at 11:16 PM. Reason : l]

[Edited on June 18, 2007 at 11:16 PM. Reason : l]

6/18/2007 11:14:44 PM

anyone can be an "engineer"

its not really that hard

to be a successful engineer, it will be necessary (at some point in time) to communicate in such a manner as to prove that you are a capable and competent engineer

6/18/2007 11:17:34 PM

^</sarcasm>

6/18/2007 11:19:53 PM

Charlie made a funny

6/18/2007 11:21:20 PM

Quote :

"Once you learn the 'basic concept' it is all simple math."

HUR

That shows you don't know what the hell you're talking about. My undergrad degree is in business administration, and I'll guarantee that you've never taken a managerial accounting course or you would be singing a different tune. In addition, you've taken one accounting course, huh? Ever heard of the fallacy of composition--go ahead and look it up.

Quote :

"I have to disagree with you--I do think I understand you're point, though. The problem is you seem to be focusing on specific disciplines in which some complex problem may be solved through a lifetime of dedication. I was referring to complicated problems such as the world poverty-hunger cycle, for example, or the like. These types of problems can only be solved through a multidisciplinary approach--and no amount of debate will change my mind about that. In addition, I think you forget the role of support people in the kinds of breakthroughs you listed. After all, many professors I have met--brilliant though they may be--can't work the fax machine. And most of them would be lost without the business and accounting majors, for example, that manage their grants and so on--the breakthroughs you described would likely never happen without the funding being properly maintained. This is just one example of the way multiple disciplines are a part of significant advances, whether directly or indirectly. PS: The type of courses offered by CHASS involve much more than simply writing essays--many of the courses emphasize critical thinking skills. These skills have led me to ask something of you math and engineering folks: Please prove that CHASS abilities/knowledge and PAMS or Engineering abilities/knowledge (your choice) are mutually exclusive."

hooksaw

[Edited on June 18, 2007 at 11:39 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2007 11:31:57 PM

Quote :

"Contrary though I think I would do better in a advanced english class then stick a anthropology major into a Communications Theory or High Frequency Microwave circuits class. On average more people can do the "CHASS" work and get those jobs out of college then students excelling and graduating as an engineer. That is why engineers are paid 55K on avg v. the average CHASS degree holder making 35K. If engineering were easier then the economic rational choice would be for everyone to major in engineering."

Bingo Bango Bongo


Incidentally, I'm taking a graduate class in finance (focused on the math) and a graduate class in signal processing. Guess which one is a piece of cake compared to the other?

6/19/2007 12:27:02 AM

Quote :

""I hate it when people try to make excuses for their inability to be well-rounded in something as fundamental as their own native language, reading comprehension, logic, problem solving, and arithmetic"

I'm competent in all of those things. I'm not trying to make excuses for either side, I like them both equally. But to claim English is useless is an amazing load of bullshit.

Quote :

"like that annoying chick said, she knew engineers that couldn't form sentences, and yet, they're engineers....what does that say for the importance of communication. not much/ they make us engineering majors take one online english class. shit's pretty important huh?"

He was an engineering STUDENT, in his junior year at NCSU. I seriously hope he didn't graduate.

They make you take ENG101, ENG331 and that Lit elective: that's three. And no, it apparently wasn't enough to actually force that guy to learn to write in complete sentences. But of course it's important: hopefully nobody wants to look incompetent in a lab report.

Quote :

"On average more people can do the "CHASS" work and get those jobs out of college then students excelling and graduating as an engineer. That is why engineers are paid 55K on avg v. the average CHASS degree holder making 35K. If engineering were easier then the economic rational choice would be for everyone to major in engineering.""

Quote :

"As a engineering major, however, most of my classes and tests involve solving equations and doing other engineering stuff. Most of which does not require writing prose or exceptional english skills. I do not even think most professor would deduct points if while writing a "solution" sentence made a grammatical error. So I really do not get to practice my CHASS skills but I know if i were taking those classes I could make my way through them just fine. Knowing my strengths, I decided to pursue a major in something I could do better and was more interested in then something like communication, english, sociology, or teaching."

"than": for god's sake, learn the difference between "then" and "than"
Or keep 'em coming, I'm having fun.

Once you get the idea on how to solve these things, it's no harder than writing an essay that synthesizes ideas you've learned in an English class. And we're not talking about English being useful on engineering test, we're talking about the real world. You know, the one in which you actually have to have written output to show what work you've done, not just a set of equations and a boxed answer at the end. In either discipline, you're learning something: in CHASS I think the overall goal is more of a study of humanity and the nuances therein. Engineering is a study of applying scientific principles to create something larger hopefully also for the benefit of humanity. They're not mutually exclusive at all.

Quote :

"PS: The type of courses offered by CHASS involve much more than simply writing essays--many of the courses emphasize critical thinking skills. These skills have led me to ask something of you math and engineering folks: Please prove that CHASS abilities/knowledge and PAMS or Engineering abilities/knowledge (your choice) are mutually exclusive."

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:06 AM. Reason : .]

6/19/2007 1:03:46 AM

since you are SO great at english maybe you can be my secretary office assistant and correct my grammar once i become a professional. I won't lie I have forgotten some of that shit "than v then" but if I had to write a report or memo chances are I could have one of the office assistants proof read. Possibly Microsoft word would catch a lot of the errors also.

Quote :

"Once you get the idea on how to solve these things, it's no harder than writing an essay"

Only thing is SO many people do not figure out those things and end up dropping out of engineering and moving to CHASS or BUS. Where do the CHASS majors go when they can not cut it??? community college, McD's

I never said CHASS, BUS, or any other college is not important. Foolish is it though to say that any english major just by studying a little can do engineering or Engineering is the same level of difficulty as CHASS.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:17 AM. Reason : l]

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:18 AM. Reason : l]

6/19/2007 1:13:18 AM

Quote :

"PS: The type of courses offered by CHASS involve much more than simply writing essays--many of the courses emphasize critical thinking skills. These skills have led me to ask something of you math and engineering folks: Please prove that CHASS abilities/knowledge and PAMS or Engineering abilities/knowledge (your choice) are mutually exclusive."

If your "critical thinking" skills were so sharp, you would have seen that people have already stated in this very thread that being a good engineer/scientist often requires effective communication and soft skills IN ADDITION to science and math skills.

The point is that the reverse is not true. PAMS and Engineering abilities subsume CHASS abilities. Hence, because they have a larger, rarer set of skills, engineers and scientists are valued more than others. It's only natural for CHASS-only folks to develop an inferiority complex over this.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:22 AM. Reason : Also funny that people think being a CHASS major automatically equals good communicator.]

6/19/2007 1:18:21 AM

Quote :

""than": for god's sake, learn the difference between "then" and "than" Or keep 'em coming, I'm having fun."

oh, jesus christ, give off your fucking high horse

this is not a goddamn academic or professional setting

6/19/2007 1:18:36 AM

^^^If you actually bothered trying, you'd realize that Microsoft Word is a very shitty proofreader. And no, I wouldn't be your office assistant, I'd be your fellow engineer, and I'd be better at communicating professionally than you would be.

Quote :

"Foolish is it though to say that any english major just by studying a little can do engineering"

Oh, so what is it I'm doing right now, exactly? I'm an English major as much as I'm an Engineering major.

^ He's on his high horse as much as I am, then. If English is so simple, he should try to use it correctly sometime.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:21 AM. Reason : ]

6/19/2007 1:19:55 AM

Silly Fuchsia haven't you heard of the glass ceiling.

6/19/2007 1:23:04 AM

Sure I have.

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/issuebrf/sib99352.htm

6/19/2007 1:24:43 AM

^^^nobody in here, including you, is attempting to write posts with perfect grammar

i'm not saying that you don't need skills in english, but pointing out spelling errors is just irrelevant here

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:25 AM. Reason : ^]

6/19/2007 1:24:56 AM

it's a usage error and a spelling error

if it were merely the latter, I'd let it go

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:32 AM. Reason : But I guess English is so easy that he totally knew that, and my comment was useless]

6/19/2007 1:26:27 AM

ATTN: Random Female Thread Readers

I was just trying to be a dick above and am not really sexist. I actually enjoy having females in my engineering classes and in at work where I have CoOp-ed

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 1:31 AM. Reason : l]

6/19/2007 1:30:47 AM

I take back what I said about my engineering partner: you know, on his best attempts, he could actually vaguely write in sentences:

Quote :

"The fluid flow experiment is to understand how a fluid acts in a system. Through the pipe and fitting the fluid loses pressure in predictable amounts. The lab is to gather data in of the pressure drops and from there calculate the friction coefficient of each fitting. From the experiment we can apply the information and determine how any system might act do to pressure lose."

I rewrote ten pages worth of shit worse than this about four times. I'm glad he knew how much I hated him.

6/19/2007 1:45:32 AM

1.ENGINEERING
2.PHYSICAL & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
3.AGRICULTURE & LIFE SCIENCES
4.DESIGN
5.MANAGEMENT
6.TEXTILES
7.NATURAL RESOURCES
8.HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES
9.EDUCATION
10.FIRST YEAR COLLEGE

6/19/2007 4:07:48 AM

College of Engineering...definitely

Top 3 are interchangeable:

1. NE
2. MAE (Aerospace)
3. BME
4. ECE
5. CHE
6. MAE (Mechanical)
7. MSE


Also you've got,
IE
CE
WPS
EE
TE

Quote :

"Once you learn the "basic concept" it is all simple math. I almost felt dumbed down as the teach was explaining on solving some interest formula using the "e" euler's number for continous interest. I felt like busting out some complex math. BUS and ACC took 4 years to get polished up on those skills in order to perform those tasked for the "engineers" in a company. In industry I am not paid to do the accounting that is someone else's job. Kinda like I may not know how to operate the forklift to get my new test rack to the lab. I pick up the phone and get the labor dude to do that shit for me. A lot of engineers actually due go back to get there MBA or the accounting equilavent so they can be effective managers."

why hasn't StillFuschia picked up on all these gramatical errors yet?

such as:
"A lot of engineers actually due go back to get there MBA "

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 7:20 AM. Reason : yo]

6/19/2007 7:17:14 AM

the thing thats wrong is the small majors like nuke and aero
the students band together and make it way easier on themselves.

Mechanical is cut-throat as hell.
btw how about you claim to have not done more than 2 and leave it @ that.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 7:46 AM. Reason : if you did 3 you're an idiot.]

6/19/2007 7:44:57 AM

Quote :

"Also you've got,"

you listed EE twice??


I think NE, CHE, MAE (rather aero or mech), BME, or ECE are all interchangeable depending on your skills set, choice of professor, luck, and friends you know in the major.

IE is def a lot easier. It is where all the engineers who get waist deep in any of the above engineering fields go if they realize they can not do it but do not want to lose all the credit hours that a switch to BUS would cause so late in the game

6/19/2007 8:19:03 AM

^i think the second EE is probably environmental engineering and the first one is electrical and computer

6/19/2007 12:20:03 PM

Dear StillFuchsia,

I see that you enjoy pointing out the engineering student that seemingly could not form a complete sentence. Is it possible he didn't WANT to form a complete sentence?

A fellow group member in a 400-level ACC class submitted her part of a project to our group. She had written one and one half pages in six weeks. It was absolutely horrendous. A ninth grade English teacher would have given it an F. She was given three days to re-write it or she would be dropped from the group. The second draft was amazingly better.

Perhaps your fellow engineering student wrote poorly because he/she knew you would re-write the assignment NOT because he/she is unable to write better.

...

Dear hooksaw,

It's your, not you're.

...

Dear CHASS students,

We've admitted CHASS skills are useful. We're just saying CHASS isn't the hardest college out there. Get over yourselves.

...

Dear HUR,

Most juniors and seniors in accounting long for the 200 level ACC courses and most also laugh at how easy the BUS classes are...and no, I'm not EVEN trying to say COM should be nominated for the hardest college. That goes to engineering or the vet school.

6/19/2007 3:16:15 PM

BME is worthless without further study

jack of all trades, master of none

6/19/2007 3:33:11 PM

i've been waiting for The Dude to bring his superiority complex into this.

6/19/2007 3:53:47 PM

^^^

Quote :

"It's your, not you're."

WTF are rambling about? You're is a contraction of you are.

6/19/2007 4:24:59 PM

Quote :

"I have to disagree with you--I do think I understand you're point, though. The problem is you seem to be focusing on specific disciplines in which some complex problem may be solved through a lifetime of dedication. "

6/19/2007 4:35:50 PM

Quote :

"Dear StillFuchsia, I see that you enjoy pointing out the engineering student that seemingly could not form a complete sentence. Is it possible he didn't WANT to form a complete sentence? A fellow group member in a 400-level ACC class submitted her part of a project to our group. She had written one and one half pages in six weeks. It was absolutely horrendous. A ninth grade English teacher would have given it an F. She was given three days to re-write it or she would be dropped from the group. The second draft was amazingly better. Perhaps your fellow engineering student wrote poorly because he/she knew you would re-write the assignment NOT because he/she is unable to write better."

Yes, this was his maximum writing skill. I asked him to redraft these several times, those were just as bad as the initial attempts. Our professor saw one of our first prelabs and marked a ridiculous amount off when I had neglected to read this introduction (the one I posted up there): it's absolutely unreadable. He didn't initially know I was so anal retentive, and I tend to doubt he realized I spent so much time fixing his shit until I told him it was unacceptable. I did way too much work so I wouldn't fail: if we had turned in some of his Analysis/Conclusions sections, we would've gotten terrible grades on at least 10 pages of labs every time. Eventually we regulated him to sections requiring less writing (things like the Procedure/Data sections).

6/19/2007 5:15:24 PM

which major has the girls with the biggest boobs? lol

6/19/2007 6:40:25 PM

pams without a doubt

6/19/2007 7:05:19 PM

Quote :

"Is it possible he didn't WANT to form a complete sentence?"

much probably to my high school english teachers horror on some engineering classes I neglect writing complete sentences in homework or tests when giving a answer. Not because I can not do it but it is not needed. The professor wants the answer or a brief description not a lot of fluff & bullshit in my response.

Quote :

"That goes to engineering or the vet school"

I will agree Vet school would rival engineering but I think this thread is limited to undergraduate programs. Getting into graduate programs opens up a new can of worms. I am sure med school and law school easily surpass undergraduate engineering in the level of difficulty. As far as graduate level i might say med > grad engineering not sure if law school > grad engineering

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 7:14 PM. Reason : l]

6/19/2007 7:13:20 PM

Quote :

"i've been waiting for The Dude to bring his superiority complex into this."

already been done..NE FTW

6/19/2007 8:34:09 PM

Quote :

"this thread is limited to undergraduate programs."

tru

6/19/2007 9:14:31 PM

Quote :

"1. NE 2. MAE (Aerospace) 3. BME 4. ECE 5. CHE 6. MAE (Mechanical) 7. MSE "

what is this mess??

NE is "hard" because only like 4 people a year sign up for it because working in a nuke plant after college is the american dream...

AE is "hard" because the professors suck and everyone who does AE thinks they'll just be designing cool new airplanes and shit...

BME is "hard" because they stick the biology kids who think they're going to get into medicine and pharma because the major says "biomedical" into statics and dynamics--they have no business being there and the majority of them don't want to do mechanical devices...they just get tricked into being there

ECE should above the previously mentioned (totally different from every other major listed here)

ChemE should be above the previously mentioned (we do a little bit of everything everyone else does which automatically puts us above everyone )

ME can go below the previously mentioned (they're like the exact opposite of NE in that everyone wants to be an ME because cars are cool...)

MSE isn't that hard...its just too specialized about unimportant topics to be really useful

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 10:09 PM. Reason : asdf]

6/19/2007 9:50:57 PM

Quote :

"StillFuchsia that's "genius," shit-for-brains "

gee thanks, its a shame I was unable to comunicate the true meaning due to this horrendous
spelling error, oh wait, somehow you figured out the correct spelling despite my grammatical iniquity.
You should look up the letter than the inventor of the transistor sent out for investors, it was full
of gramatical errors. You know why people took it seriously ? It wasn't because of pretty paper or flair of presentation, it was because of hard work and ingenuity.

Quote :

" StillFuchsia The real question is: what good is solving out string theory if you can't communicate your findings in a sensible manner? That's why it's interdisciplinary, not because an English major can do your job, but because he would likely be able to find the best way to explain it. You, who seemingly care little for effective communication when it's one of the most important pieces of what you do with your research. You can't just sit in a lab all day doing your theoretical physics experiments (ha, experiments for theoretical physics), but it means exactly jack shit if you don't do anything to communicate your findings."

No, you fail to understand that it is the technical discovery which is important. There are plenty of people who can understand what you did despite poor grammar (you can claim whatever you want but if you don't have the EQUATIONS to back it nobody is going to care ). Anyway, most research papers do have pretty good gramar and its not because they have some engrish major on staff. Its because they have a highschool education.

Go ahead pick at the gramar in this post, but youll just be wasting your time. As others have pointed out this is just a mesage board, its not an term paper I'm typing, duh.

Quote :

"hooksaw I have to disagree with you--I do think I understand you're point, though. The problem is you seem to be focusing on specific disciplines in which some complex problem may be solved through a lifetime of dedication. I was referring to complicated problems such as the world poverty-hunger cycle, for example, or the like. These types of problems can only be solved through a multidisciplinary approach--and no amount of debate will change my mind about that. In addition, I think you forget the role of support people in the kinds of breakthroughs you listed. After all, many professors I have met--brilliant though they may be--can't work the fax machine. And most of them would be lost without the business and accounting majors, for example, that manage their grants and so on--the breakthroughs you described would likely never happen without the funding being properly maintained. This is just one example of the way multiple disciplines are a part of significant advances, whether directly or indirectly. PS: The type of courses offered by CHASS involve much more than simply writing essays--many of the courses emphasize critical thinking skills. These skills have led me to ask something of you math and engineering folks: Please prove that CHASS abilities/knowledge and PAMS or Engineering abilities/knowledge (your choice) are mutually exclusive. "

sure, I agree, no great thinker would probably have succeeded if he was alone in the world. Family and friends are doubtless an important form of support. Similar comments apply to secretaries and network administrators, research would slow considerably without the internet. The fact remains that all of those support systems will not create the new science, it takes creative ingenious individuals for that task. Individuals who have devoted their lives to the understanding and furtherance of that given scientific/mathematical discipline.

I do not argue that CHASS skills and PAMS skills are mutually exclusive, rather I'd say that basic
CHASS skills are assumed as a base for everyone in PAMS. On the other hand I don't think everybody in CHASS has basic PAMS skills. Could I debate great literature with you ? Well not right off, however with the help of google and some free time I bet I could look pretty good at it.

You are of course correct that critical thinking is the heart of any genuine academic pursuit. I learned critical thinking my whole life, but that's because I come from a very cynical people who question most everything.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 10:57 PM. Reason : needed to add grammar errors for effect.]

6/19/2007 10:54:39 PM

This is exactly what I mean. People who say, "Oh, well you know what I meant with all those grammar and spelling errors! They're totally okay!" They make you look like an absolute moron, and again people are making excuses for their own sheer laziness.

Quote :

"Anyway, most research papers do have pretty good gramar and its not because they have some engrish major on staff. Its because they have a highschool education."

Mostly untrue. Especially those papers made by foreign scientists/engineers. They're heavily edited before they're even allowed to be in journals for a very good reason: you can't understand what the fuck they mean.

Quote :

"Could I debate great literature with you? Well not right off, however with the help of google and some free time I bet I could look pretty good at it."

I call bullshit. More importantly, no simple googling will ever replace you actually reading the actual literature itself. The true basis of argument in literature is from the text, in any case. And judging by the sheer amount of literature in the world, I wonder how much of it you'd get to.

Engineering problems aren't beyond English majors: the math, the formulas, sure. But the ideas of what needs to get done aren't so far and above them, I promise you that. And honestly, it's sometimes really helpful to ask someone unburdened by all the formulas in your head what to do about a problem.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 11:24 PM. Reason : .]

6/19/2007 11:13:10 PM

so engineering is the hardest right?

6/19/2007 11:25:29 PM

no

in fact, the new dean is making it harder

fail any class twice and you are out of the program

im a fan of that policy

6/19/2007 11:41:43 PM

Quote :

"ECE should above the previously mentioned (totally different from every other major listed here)"

I am glad someone recognizes my talent .
ECE deals with a lot of topics and ideas that are a lot more abtract then Civil, ME, AE, etc
I have heard from sources though that MAE has the worst professors of any department at NCSU

Quote :

"Engineering problems aren't beyond English majors: the math, the formulas, sure. But the ideas of what needs to get done aren't so far and above them "

WTF?? You have to be the shittiest engineer I know if you actually believe half the stuff you have stated in this thread. I am sure you are just special, an exception to the rule since you can earn your engineering degree while debating Chaucer and get degree in English. I do not see, however, how you can say the above statement. A 9 year old can read a "Cell Phones for Dummies" explain how GSM works and how the signal goes through the system to make your call. Does that mean he can prove the mathematics necessary to model and prove the system? Can he design, debug, or help create a transceiver system capable of communicating on a GSM network?

NO
I am sure the same 9 yr old can go to Barnes and Nobels pick up a book on the weather and clouds. Explain cold fronts, low pressure, and the rain cycle just fine and dandy. Understanding the thermodynamics, vector calculus, and various other elements that actually makes stuff happens is different


[Edited on June 20, 2007 at 1:12 AM. Reason : l]

6/20/2007 1:05:17 AM

I SAID "THE MATH, THE FORMULAS, SURE" BECAUSE THEY ARE BEYOND ENGLISH MAJORS WHO HADN'T STUDIED ENGINEERING MATH, UNLIKE THE FIRST PART OF THE SENTENCE. YOU READ IT INCORRECTLY. IT LITERALLY MEANS "THE MATH IS BEYOND THEM, BUT THE CONCEPTS ARE NOT."

I think engineers need better reading comprehension. And I hate Chaucer. Blow me.

If I can so easily understand engineering concepts, they're not above an English major at all: get off your fucking high horse. Just because you've studied different things doesn't mean that others couldn't learn them if they wanted. Also, I don't see how a little kid could predict weather patterns and climate change with the some of the technology/algorithms currently being used: the stuff in PAMS is more advanced than you apparently want to believe.

[Edited on June 20, 2007 at 3:24 AM. Reason : In any case, I congratulate you on your inability to read.]

6/20/2007 3:07:07 AM

To SCSTL: Yes, I actually made a mistake. At least I know the difference between the words at issue--unlike some engineering students in this discussion.

6/20/2007 10:41:55 AM

Hahaha...I'm not exactly a grammar nazi, but my mind automatically expands contractions as I read...so I'm reading "I understand you are point"...

I'm not sure how many of the screwups are real (I'm sure some are) and how many are added to annoy stillfuschia...

6/20/2007 10:49:52 AM

Quote :

"change with the some of the technology/algorithms currently being used: the stuff in PAMS is more advanced than you apparently want to believe."

I was not implying that at all you misunderstood my point. I do a lot of side studying into weather and atmospheric phenomenon and know just how complicated it gets. The math involved rivals that in any of the engineering dealing with a lot of mechanical enginnering concepts such as fluid dynamics, thermo, chaotic processes etc. My point was that the "9" year old my be able to pick up a simple book talking about weather and understand the abstract concepts of the weather cycle and shit like that. This does not mean though that he would be able to model or understand the math involved in analyzing how the weather works on a technical level

[Edited on June 20, 2007 at 11:21 AM. Reason : l]

6/20/2007 11:20:56 AM

Nothing I said disagreed with that.

But don't act like learning the math is some kind of giant mountain that can't possibly ever be accomplished by an English major.

[Edited on June 20, 2007 at 12:22 PM. Reason : .]

6/20/2007 12:19:30 PM

I 100% disagree with you ^

Even if they did take MA141, MA241, MA242 knowing math does not make you an engineer. Using your logic since I can read an article and write a summary of its content. I could be the editor for the News and Observer. Just b.c you are an exception to the rule does not mean all your CHASS buddies can be an engineer too. I have a friend who is english teacher is writing a book but can not figure out how to take the class average without a computer program. Some people just do not get math easily

6/20/2007 3:22:10 PM

^Seriously. My friend's boyfriend took MAT 114 twice and still had to cheat to pass. He's poly-sci.

6/20/2007 3:35:50 PM

^^ some people can't get English, either, as I've shown

Your error is in assuming you're better than most English majors simply because they didn't want to suffer through a subject they'd hate. It doesn't take a genius to do both CHASS and Engineering: that's why there are quite a few Ben Franklin Scholars. I'm not the only one doing this: talk to ActionPants for another example. Honestly, with enough hard work, I don't think it's beyond any English major to learn the calculus and Diff EQ required to take an engineering class. Engineering just has more prereqs than most other programs, and I think that deters people. I'm not some kind of special genius, I just enjoy being well-rounded.

The fact that you think it's so far above most of them is absolutely stupid. Sure, people have different aptitudes: why should yours be better than someone else's?

^ Your friend's boyfriend must be a moron.

[Edited on June 20, 2007 at 3:52 PM. Reason : .]

6/20/2007 3:48:31 PM

^He is but don't tell her that. No one should have that much difficulty passing MAT 114. I never studied, barely payed attention, and still made an A.

Quote :

"I don't think it's beyond any English major to learn the calculus and Diff EQ required to take an engineering class."

I have to disagree with that. Yeah, obviously some can, but most probably can't.

6/20/2007 4:00:54 PM

StillFuchsia

I am sure your mommy told you as a little girl that if you work hard you can be president or an astronaut, oh boy yippee skippy!!

Maybe if I work hard i can still be a NBA basketball player

6/20/2007 9:48:21 PM