🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec11.012057.28418@orlith.bates.edu> pfaulsti@abacus.bates.edu
(Paul Faulstich) writes:
>The bottom line is that I think that it is ESSENTIAL that we not isolate
>ourselves from other disciplines.  Many students are not sure, especially
>in their first year, of what they wish to major in.  To force them to take
>calculus with the math department OR physics/calculus with the physics
>department would be a real tragedy.

     I don't entirely disagree with this, but the sad fact is that most
math courses take too long to get to the punch line.  I like proofs as
much as anyone (perhaps more than most) but in introductory courses, you
want to convey the spirit of the work, not the rigorous basis.  The only
other alternative is for students to take a double helping of
math in first year and not to take any physics at all until second year.
Perhaps that's actually a better solution, now that I think of it.
     Besides, as long as all the same topics are covered (albeit in a
different sequence and with different emphasis) why should taking one
stream prevent a qualified student from switching later?  It should be
up to the faculty or school to decide what constitutes equivalent
coursework, not up to the departments.

>Any student which is graduated from a college is the
>concern of everyone in the college.  Don't forget that many physics majors
>are math majors too!

     Some are.  More to the point, the faculty or school to which a department
belongs has a responsibility to oversee the quality of the programmes
offered.  I simply disagree with the idea that only card-carrying
mathematicians know what constitutes appropriate mathematical
education or, for that matter, that any department should be able to
decide how another department's academic programmes should be run.

				Marc R. Roussel
                                mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca