David Evans's Homepage
|
|
|
Dave Barry and Majors After you’ve been in
college for a year or so, you’re supposed to choose a major, which is the
subject you intend to memorize and forget the most things about. Here is a
very important piece of advice: be sure to choose a major that does not
involve Known Facts and Right Answers. This means you must not major in
mathematics, physics, biology, or chemistry, because these subjects involve
actual facts. If, for example, you major in mathematics, you’re going to
wander into class one day and the professor will say: “Define the cosine
integer of the quadrant of a rhomboid binary axis, and extrapolate your
result to five significant vertices.” If you don’t come up with exactly the
answer the professor has in mind, you fail. The same is true of chemistry: if
you write in your exam book that carbon and hydrogen combine to form oak,
your professor will flunk you. He wants you to come up with the same answer
he and all the other chemists have agreed on.
|
|
Maintained by David Evans - devans@coastal.edu