[sjs1234]

6.002 midterm at MIT in 91 had a problem trivial to solve with a Laplace transform ... Actually it had a couple. Of course Laplace transforms would be taught in the second half. The few students who already knew the transform or somehow knew to read, ahead did well. I spent 20 minutes on one problem solving the differential equations from scratch without the damn transform. I felt sorry for those who weren't taking it as a freshman (it was pass/fail for all classes your first year at MIT).

That guy was a useless jerk. (As a teacher.) I did have professors that were useful jerks ... Difficult homework every single class with spot on directed feedback by the very next class. Unfortunately teaching well at a research university is just a mark of being eccentric. It seems to be negatively correlated with getting tenure. The 'useful jerk' already had tenure. He was mean, but an awesome teacher.