| | After all that education and struggle, I managed to place into Calculus II as noted in the blog entry. I earned a B in that course and a B in Calculus III the next term. The following year, I earned only a C in Differential Equations.
I talked to a high school AP Calculus instructor recently about AP versus dual enrollment (DE). The latter involves students taking actual college courses for college credit. These are usually taken online or at a local community college. To me, this makes much more sense than merely "hoping" for a good score on a placement test after a year of intellectual flogging.
The AP teacher swore up and down that her AP students could "run circles around" the DE students. My response to that is, "So what?" I do not recall ever signing the dotted line for any agreement to "run circles around" anyone.
Calculus AB spreads one semester of calculus across two semesters. Calculus BC squeezes three semesters of calculus into two semesters. Again, this is senseless. Why not just take one semester of calculus in one semester?
(I want to clarify that last paragraph. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) teaches single variable calculus in one semester and multivariable calculus in one semester. Most other colleges spread those two courses over three semesters. So Calculus AB focuses on single variable calculus while Calculus BC also includes multivariable calculus. I do not want to quibble over course content but simply observe that the student can find less onerous ways to earn calculus college credit in high school.)
Moreover, there is this whole issue of writing pages of proofs in calculus. Unless one plans to become a mathematics major, this is a complete waste of time. I recall the story of the engineering professor who told his students: "Do you remember those pages of proofs you had to do in calculus? We use calculus in this course but you will not be doing that here." Ha!
In my ideal world, the student completes the foundation courses for his career at the local community college using online tools from the comfort of his recliner in his parents' home -- no commuting, no fighting traffic, no costly and cramped dormitories, no overpriced and nutritionally dubious meal plans, and no "public master debating" sessions with boorish classmates and overbearing professors. The MathXL tool offers so many advantages over live instruction that I hardly know where to begin. I can say the same for its companion tools in the other disciplines.
But I am an extreme introvert so many people will turn from my attitude in disgust.
Still, having gone through all this, I maintain this firm conclusion:
The excellent is the enemy of the adequate.
Having watched some of my NCSSM classmates drop out of college due to a "burnout" that started at NCSSM, and witnessed other dubious outcomes over the years, I think the facts support my "slacker" attitude.
On the plus side, I could well have done worse in college without the solid foundation NCSSM provided. One of my classmates from my old high school got an A in the standard non-AP, non-honors calculus course there. She earned a D+ in calculus as a college freshman. Ouch!
Today, though, I would definitely select DE over all other options.
(Edited by Luke Setzer on 1/25, 4:46am)
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