"The Hill"

JOJATK said:
4) I don't understand the magic of everyone having to take calculus at GT.
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I think each college should be able to decide whether calculus is needed. It should not be a "Georgia Tech" requirement but a College of X requirement (or elective) as the respective Dean decides.

But I would make one suggestion: stop calling it calculus. Rename it Business Math (only for the non-engineering colleges). Then, we can honestly tell recruits that Management majors don't have to take calculus.

That might net us one or two recruits per year.
 
The importance of the calculus requirement is that the subject of calculus has a fairly inescapable degree of difficulty. It is a backstop against tendencies toward joke classes and degrees for nothing.
 
MidtownJacket said:
I am always confused by this type of thread. I want to win in sports as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of the value of my degree. I would wager that there is a much higher percentage of folks who came to GT (myself included) for the academic rigor and quality opportunities the Institute prepares you for and introduces you too upon graduation.

If the only way to win is to sacrifice that return on the hard work required to get through Tech I am happy with 8 or 9 win seasons as the average and an occasional 10 or 11 win year.
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Loss of degree value and winning football is a myth on the scale of Santa Clause.
 
MidtownJacket said:
I am always confused by this type of thread. I want to win in sports as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of the value of my degree. I would wager that there is a much higher percentage of folks who came to GT (myself included) for the academic rigor and quality opportunities the Institute prepares you for and introduces you too upon graduation.

If the only way to win is to sacrifice that return on the hard work required to get through Tech I am happy with 8 or 9 win seasons as the average and an occasional 10 or 11 win year.
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I agree. Stanford, Duke and Vanderbilt are really suffering academically since their football programs have gotten better.

Then there is Michigan that has always been good in football. What a terrible school.

We don't want to be like any of them.

Good thing basketball players are all smart and want to major in engineering, so that we can continue to recruit top 150 basketball players.
 
I was in a meeting with President Peterson over a year ago or so and the FIRST thing he said to our group was "I'd prefer to leave athletics out of the discussion entirely for today's purposes." It wasn't even a very serious meeting about big time decisions at all...it was a laid back luncheon. I just found it to be a major turn-off...maybe he just lacks social skills.

Have not been a huge fan since.

Bud Peterson. 0-5 vs Georgia.

Remember when we were all excited the new Tech President was a former football player? LOL!!!

Don't get me wrong, he WANTS Tech to win...I just don't believe he's gonna do anything about it.

Someone please tell me I'm wrong. Please.
 
gtzulu said:
The importance of the calculus requirement is that the subject of calculus has a fairly inescapable degree of difficulty. It is a backstop against tendencies toward joke classes and degrees for nothing.
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No it isn't, it's simply an artifact of our university's structure.
 
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wesleyd21 said:
I was in a meeting with President Peterson over a year ago or so and the FIRST thing he said to our group was "I'd prefer to leave athletics out of the discussion entirely for today's purposes." It wasn't even a very serious meeting about big time decisions at all...it was a laid back luncheon. I just found it to be a major turn-off...maybe he just lacks social skills.

Have not been a huge fan since.

Bud Peterson. 0-5 vs Georgia.

Remember when we were all excited the new Tech President was a former football player? LOL!!!

Don't get me wrong, he WANTS Tech to win...I just don't believe he's gonna do anything about it.

Someone please tell me I'm wrong. Please.
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Egg his house?
 
JOJATK said:
4) I don't understand the magic of everyone having to take calculus at GT. For sure my first degree needed it so I had to take it. But if a degree program really doesn't use it then why require it other than a rite of passage and to me that's just unnecessary. If a kid in the management department didn't have to take calculus it wouldn't diminish my degree one tiny bit.

So those are just my opinions. I could be wrong.
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From what I know management majors can take survey of calculus, which isn't as hard as Calc 1. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, don't the FB players take it at other schools? That's what I had heard around here before.

I took Calc 1 while I was still at KSU, utilized the Kahn Academy website and passed with flying colors with out to much effort.

These guys have tutors as well.

I think a wider variety of majors would help athletes want to attend tech, more than this Calc requirement.



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andrew said:
You won't use a lot of the stuff taught in college in the real world, and when you do there's a good chance you'll have to relearn it anyway since you learned it so long ago and in an academic environment.

It's more about proving that you have the ability to learn it, and right now everyone who graduates Georgia Tech is smart enough to pass college level calculus, which is more than a lot of people can say.

A big part of what makes your degree strong is the professional performance of others who hold your degree. Having everyone who holds your degree have that level of intelligence is a good thing, in my opinion.

If you pick a random person with a degree from most schools (even Ivy League), there's a good chance you'll end up with an idiot. That chance is a lot lower with GT because we have mostly difficult degrees, and even the non-STEM focused students are required to have a certain level of STEM skills. </anecdotal evidence>
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I agree with the points you've made. I submit, however, that if calculus is not required knowledge for a particular area of study and is just being used to see if a person is "smart enough to pass the course" then perhaps there are courses that can be used in the same way but that are more applicable to the field of study. If calculus is needed for a particular field of endeavor then by all means include it in the degree program.

I also agree with what sets the value of the degree and I am not at all in favor of making things easy for anyone at GT. I think the "degree of difficulty" and required level of maturity to get through GT is what makes it special. But again, I'm suggesting that instead of using calculus as a weeder class for fields of study that really don't need calculus that other classes that ARE more applicable should be used in that capacity (though I'm not a big fan of weeder classes as a crucible, I'm more a fan of classes that are tough but fair and the term "weeder" generally means to me that it's a bit unfair). Again, if calculus is applicable then it should be part of the degree program.

Nicely done response on your part! Well stated.
 
GoJackets89 said:
From what I know management majors can take survey of calculus, which isn't as hard as Calc 1. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, don't the FB players take it at other schools? That's what I had heard around here before.

I took Calc 1 while I was still at KSU, utilized the Kahn Academy website and passed with flying colors with out to much effort.

These guys have tutors as well.

I think a wider variety of majors would help athletes want to attend tech, more than this Calc requirement.



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I completely agree with your point regarding the variety of majors being far more meaningful. I'm not about removing calculus just for athletics. If it isn't necessary material to learn then it shouldn't be a required class. That's all I'm saying. And this is coming from someone that was 1-2 classes away from earning a math degree just by virtue of all the math I had to take for the other two degrees I got :biggrin:
 
gtzulu said:
The importance of the calculus requirement is that the subject of calculus has a fairly inescapable degree of difficulty. It is a backstop against tendencies toward joke classes and degrees for nothing.
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I am sure that most degree programs at GT have a genuine need for those undertaking those areas of study to learn calculus. But in those areas of study that GT offers that do not demand that a person have calculus knowledge in his or her head in order to earn a degree then I suggest that the backstop should be a more applicable class.
 
JOJATK said:
I completely agree with your point regarding the variety of majors being far more meaningful. I'm not about removing calculus just for athletics. If it isn't necessary material to learn then it shouldn't be a required class. That's all I'm saying. And this is coming from someone that was 1-2 classes away from earning a math degree just by virtue of all the math I had to take for the other two degrees I got :biggrin:
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I hear you. I'm just saying I don't think that requirement is as bad as many think it is, if what I pointed out is accurate.




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