Wednesday, January 14, 2009
STOMACH CHURNING
So this is a big break:
At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard
I can remember the physics lectures in 26-100 as stomach churning events calculated to ruin my day.
The first one I attended left me behind in about ten minutes. He talked about vector analysis.
Now it seems simple but I was so freaked by the atmosphere (you could smell the flop sweat) and the fast talk (a Swede, good looking, lectured in near English) I decided I was no good at it and it took a whole year to get my mojo back. With a little help from my friends.
Most of that stress test shit is over at the Institute now.
As I look at my new students or applicants who are going into the tank, I realize that things will be quite different for them.
There is so much support for kids now. A good thing.
They now retain about 90 % after the first time. When I went it was 50%. My class started with 950 kids and ended with about 400 something.
Those were the good old days.
Labels: MIT
