Lifelong Learning

I understand that one of the benefits of my job is that I get to take classes at the college at a fairly low price.  There are a lot of hoops to jump through -- I need permission from HR, from the head of the athletic department, from the professor, from someone in student records, etc -- and from a schedule perspective I can't take anything that meets in the afternoon because I'll be running practice.  The people at student records were a little bit skeptical and discouraging when I asked them about signing up, and were a bit tight-lipped about the process until I deliver a note from HR and my department head.  I gather not that many employees take advantage of this benefit.  Still, I'm very interested in taking a class.  I got the course catalog and after eliminating everything that met in the afternoons, I circled the classes that appealed to me.  Here's what I circled:

Biology 258: Ornithology
Classics 101: Classical Mythology
Dance 209: Training Acting And The Body
English 069: Fiction Workshop
Gender and Womens Studies 101:Intro to Gender and Women's Studies
Mathematics 181A: Multivariate Calculus
Philosophy 227: Metaphysics
Sociology 220: Class, Labor and Power
Visual Arts 150A: Drawing 1

Comments

[pjm]

Ooh! Ooh! Multivariate calculus all the way!!!!!!!

(Sorry, had to get that out.)

Not isolating your subjects much, are you? I should point out that A. was a WS major at the college under discussion...

I was about to say, "I wish I worked for an employer which let me take classes," but then I realized, hey! I do!

[(Way) Over the Line]

Is Neel Smith teaching the Classics class?

[Byron]

Just out of curiosity, why is multivariable calculus appealing, and what are the prerequisites to take it? When I took it, it was pretty far into the math sequence of classes required for mechanical engineering majors.

I assume you will be auditing the classes? I could never audit a class. I can't work up motivation to work unless the class is for a letter grade. Even if it is pass/fail, I will slack.

[dgm]

i consider free tuition at my campus one of the benefits of my job, too. every semester i come up with a wish list much like yours, plus a list of all the campus outdoor adventure trips i would like to go on. i have yet to take advantage of any of it. (sigh)

i've finally resigned myself to the fact that if i stay here long enough, my kids could get the tuition benefit. sigh.

[Scheherazade]

Byron -- I won't be auditing, unless the fee to take the class as a "special student" is much higher than I anticipate. Like you, it's hard to work as hard as I should unless I'll be evaluated with a grade.

I can't explain why I circled multivariate calculus. I took integral and differential in high school and college, and this is the next one in the sequence. I'm sure I wouldn't remember any of the earlier stuff though. I remember liking calculus, and I guess it appealed to me because it's been a long time since I've done that kind of thinking, and it seems like it might be a good stretch.

[PG]

If you want something that will be a bit of a stretch, I'd recommend the Ornithology over the multivariate calculus. At least for me, math tends to be a get-it-or-don't proposition, and I wouldn't want to take a class for fun that ended up requiring me to dig out decade-old notes from undergrad. Ornithology also is one that will allow you to impress your friends and neighbors by being able to recognize and know a lot about something people encounter on a daily basis, which probably is less true of multivariate calculus.

[bill]

The drawing class would be awesome. Another side of the brain and all that.

[David]

I would recommend taking MATH 222 instead of multivariate calculus. Linear algebra is at the heart of EVERYTHING that we do and will give you a lot more insight in how to describe things than the calc class will. That particular calc class (versus the first and second semesters) is much more tools oriented and if you don't have occasion to use the tools, you'll probably come away frustrated because the topics are unmotivated.

[Em]

I'd second taking linear algebra over multivariable calculus. For me, multi was the same as previous calc courses, except more of a headache because there were more dimensions. Linear algebra is much more interesting.