[nudetayne]

I simply have to disagree. I've only met two teachers I didn't think were dipshits and that's over the course of a B.S. in bioengineering, a masters in CS, and a trip through an MD/PhD program. These are all at top ranked schools, too. These people may have been smart, but they certainly weren't quality instructors. In my opinion, teaching should be something people do when they retire for fun. The two non-dipshits were doing exactly that.

Students should absolutely be able to pick it up on their own, but most classes use crappy textbooks and the teachers recite from the crappy textbooks. Stewart's Calculus is used by a ton of schools and that book is utter garbage. The guy is using it as a way to print money, which is fine, but you'd think after 10 versions, he'd eventually get things right.

[jimhefferon]

Thank you; you have made my point better than I did.

[nudetayne]

I'd say our posts are completely opposite in thinking. You think most texts and instructors aren't dipshits, I think they are. You think Calculus is hard to learn, I think it's easy.

[jimhefferon]

I think that on HN some people do not understand what the academic experience is like for the majority of students and you've provided confirmation of that.

[nudetayne]

I know what the academic experience is like for the majority of students, it was me my first year of college. I realized that almost all teachers are dogshit after that and only attended class when it was required, studying on my own. Most people don't come to that realization until it's too late, though.