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In article <11242.2730bfd5@ecs.umass.edu> tohline@ecs.umass.edu
(Chris Tohline) writes:
>
>as a college sophmore I felt very confident about my major, computer
>systems engineering.  Then, I took a BASIC circuit analysis class.
>now, I am very frusterated.  Am I lost because my teacher is poor, or 
>is this just a difficult subject to grasp?  I refuse to live with a 'C'
>and am very frusterated.  But I'm sure someday it will click and I'll
>be happy again.
>
>Chris Tohline
>
>tohline@ecs.umass.edu

Chris,

This has been one of my "pet peeves" since I began my education in EE
8 years ago. I am currently completing a M.S. degree in this field, and
have spent some time teaching and working in industry as well. As much as
the academics may object, I can tell you with some certainty that your
introductory circuit analysis course has very little to do with *real*
analog engineering. It seems that most universities like to use this course
as a vehicle for "weeding out" what they consider to be unsuitable
students. In addition to this, many of the faculty stuck teaching this
course know very little about the subject as it pertains to real life
design issues. They act as though they are being punished by being forced
to teach this class. This is unfortunate, since it tends to turn off many
young engineering students to the field of analog circuit design. I can't
tell you how many students I've known through the years that switched to
digital design (no pun intended) because of the experience thay had in a
similar circuits course. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there are
so few analog design engineers out there and why they are in such high
demand. I can't tell you what to do about your particular situation, but if
you stick it out, as I did, the rewards are many.

Scott T. Dupuie
The Ohio State University
Department of Electrical Engineering
dupuie@parts.eng.ohio-state.edu