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**Agathon** · January 22, 2006, 01:06

Was he cute?

I have no idea of what gay men find attractive, but by conventional female standards of male appreciation I guess so. He looked like he belonged in a boy band.

Interesting guy. I haven't seen him around campus in a while.

**Asher** · January 22, 2006, 01:08

You probably creeped him out.

**Apocalypse** · January 22, 2006, 01:31

Originally posted by Agathon

I look down on applied ethics classes as it is. Even though I've whored myself out to teach it for money, it's not real philosophy in my book.

I don't think most things are useful until they are applied. That includes both philosophy and math.

**Agathon** · January 22, 2006, 01:37

Originally posted by Asher
You probably creeped him out.

Hardly. I used to talk to him a lot. He loved Apple too.

**Agathon** · January 22, 2006, 01:38

Originally posted by Apocalypse

I don't think most things are useful until they are applied. That includes both philosophy and math.

Universities aren't really supposed to be in the useful business. If it must be tolerated, then only grudgingly.

**Asher** · January 22, 2006, 01:41

Originally posted by Agathon
Universities aren't really supposed to be in the useful business. If it must be tolerated, then only grudgingly.

Teaching useful things is the main purpose of a modern university institution. Furthering our knowledge in areas of theoretical sciences and similar fields are also useful, before you go there.

Intellectual masturbation at the expense of taxpayers is a joke. That's why engineering gets more funding than philosophy.

**polarnomad** · January 22, 2006, 01:43

Originally posted by StarLightDeath
Some of you sound like you're married to the world of academia and for a time I'm sure you'll be happy to look down on the common man high atop your academic credentials, but when you get right down to it natural talent is what determines your place in this world and that little piece of paper you get at a university doesn't mean **** if you can't apply it to the real world.

I used to disdain the little piece of paper too, but unfortunately it seems to apply to the real world all too often, if you are seeking to be employed. Especially in Finland, with so many prospective workers brandishing masters degrees, that little piece of paper tends to mean something, competitively speaking.

If on the other hand, you are hiring others, well then yeah... I guess you can have the luxury of considering degrees useless. But then, you'll need a relatively painless way of differentiating your potential employees and I'd bet that you too would fall back on the one with a degree, seeing as you won't have the time nor the patience to check just what the bookworm has learned on his/her own...

I may have to go back to school...

**Apocalypse** · January 22, 2006, 01:43

Why not be useful? I think you would probably have many more people interested in science fields if math books didn't have retarded examples for the word problems and the teachers actually had an answer for "when are we going to need this."

At least with English classes the teacher can have the fallback of "you need to get used to reading boring crap for a living" and "you can always improve writing skills" and history teachers can give a whole "history repeats itself" speech. You might not agree with any of it, but it is much more of an agruement than the math teachers give.

**Imran Siddiqui** · January 22, 2006, 01:55

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Not backbreaking at all. I'm assuming you're talking UWO, by the way. Now compare to many US schools, where you have to take 10 or 15 arts classes (30 or 45 credits in a 3-credit class system). I'd rather have the guy designing the bridge I'm on taking more structural engineering and less "Gender roles in Shakespeare's plays"...

Huh? I went to Rutgers, which is very proud of its tradition of liberal arts education, but to graduate if you are a science student all you need is 2 social science classes, 2 humanities, 1 non-western, and 2 writing (and the non-western & 2nd writing class can be a social science class and/or humanities class). I'm assuming the math requirements are part of the major.

That's 4 'other' classes at least and 7 at most. And writing isn't a bad skill to have for science guys either (and even include some math classes). That's less than 1 class a semester in a traditional 4 year education.

I can't imagine that other public schools or private schools are far more onerous than that.

**Asher** · January 22, 2006, 01:59

Only 20 of the 40 courses I'm required for my degree are allowed to be in the faculty of science or department of software engineering...

**Apocalypse** · January 22, 2006, 02:00

Originally posted by Asher
Only 20 of the 40 courses I'm required for my degree are allowed to be in the faculty of science or department of software engineering...

What about math?

**Apocalypse** · January 22, 2006, 02:01

It goes both ways for everyone though. I have to Chemistry as a psychology major while biology would be much more useful to take in the intro year.

**Asher** · January 22, 2006, 02:01

Math isn't in the faculty of science or department of software engineering.

**Apocalypse** · January 22, 2006, 02:04

Originally posted by Asher
Math isn't in the faculty of science or department of software engineering.

Yeah...that's what I meant...you made it sound like only half the classes would be useful to you.

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