Not Much Help
The Boy is home for Spring Break. 10 days in warm sunny Ohio. It was a long drive to get him; but we’re thrilled to have him home. Next year his plans may be entirely different. I’m not sure what the hot spring break destinations are for college kids; but Ohio is not on the list.
We got a late start coming back since he had physics homework that was due while we were going to be on the road so he needed to submit before we left and was stumped on the last problem. Ordinarily, I like to let the kids work though things themselves; but, since I wanted to get going, I decided to “help”. I wasn’t much help since I came up with the same answer he did. In fact, I set up the problem three different ways and all three gave the same (incorrect) answer. It was over an hour before we realized that our math was right but the sign was wrong.
We ended up talking about the proper application of the right hand rule for the first hour of the ride home. Poor California Girl was probably bored to tears. Personally, I was a bit miffed that it took me so long to solve a freshman physics problem. Other than the fact that it was online, it wasn’t any different from homework I had when I was in college. Elections are still electrons. Magnetic fields are still magnetic fields. Electric fields are still electric fields. And everything still has to balance out. If it had been chemical biology or a similar memorization-based topic I wouldn’t be annoyed; but since physics is mostly applying a few simple equations, it’s something that I should still know how to do.
The Boy’s coming home present was a new external hard drive. Not particularly sexy; but very useful. I built it myself; partly because I like to tinker with things and partly to save money. And, of course, The Boy always thinks the way I build things from components is cool. He always been a lot like his mother; but in some ways, he’s more like me. (California Girl does like the fact that I am handy too.) And, when he plugged it in, it worked the first time.
It was nice of you to help with the problem. Anything physics related is way above my head and I would not have been able to assist, I can tell you that much.
I am sure the external hard drive will come in handy without a doubt.
Worked the first time, eh? (North of North Dakota remember) My hat’s off to you – not only for real world ability but also for getting it in one.
Freshman physics is a monster!!!
yondan
Rage: I know the day will come (probably next year) when I won’t be able to help and I don’t look forward to it. I have been less and less useful the older the kids have gotten older. I don’t know what I’m going to say when I get asked for help at something and am completely clueless. At least I can still get good gifts like the external hard drive. Geeky but appreciated.
Yondan: Freshman physics isn’t the easiest; but I’d like to think that I remember what I learned in college. Much of that knowledge is useless now; but calculus and physics are eternal. And I do have a way with “computer pieces” as The Boy used to call electronic components when he as small.
I love it when given the opportunity to help my kiddos, but it certainly seems that there have been many changes in regards to *how* things are taught in the short amount of time since I’ve been out of school. Also, I am unfortunately one of the type of people who have a hard time retaining info I do not use day to day. Mix that with a child that had an IQ of 140 in kindergarten and yeah I’m not all that lucky to have the ability to help as much as I’d like, thankfully I still have a few years with my youngest kid to help!
I think a homemade external harddrive is a great gift!
The right hand rule was the bane of my college existence, all the way through optics and electromagnetics junior year. Of course, my father is an electrical engineer, so he got all the questions right the first time I asked
However, I sent him a draft of my senior thesis which is due next week, and he sent it back with “I have no idea what this is about but it sounds smart.” I finally learned something he didn’t!
I am so so thankful my parents were smart and could help me when I needed it, even in college. I know so many kids whose parents were lost after algebra. Your son is lucky (and he knows it, even if he’s not telling YOU that!)
It goes fast. I’ll be graduating in 6 weeks and last I checked, I was still 16. Best of luck. My father claims it’s liberating to finally be able to forget all that stuff he learned in college!
Viemoira: When I was in young, assuming that I had a good night’s sleep which was not very often, I had total recall. So, in addition to course material, I remember a lot of useless information like the first toll free number ever. Even today I have a very good memory and seldom feel the need to write anything down. I do take “notes” in meetings at work even though I don’t really need too; because I discovered it makes people co-workers and managers nervous if I don’t.
Lauren: Where I went, Fields AKA Fields and Waves AKA Optics and Electromagnetics was a course that “retied” people (i.e. made them select a new major). I’m one of the ones who didn’t get retired. In fact, my senior project/thesis/dissertation/whatever was on finite element analysis so one particle in three-space should have been much easier than it was. The Boy knows a LOT that I don’t. It just doesn’t come up much since he’s got pretty much the same opinion as I do and thinks it’s useless. But he remembers whereas if I remember I try hard to forget.
Good luck after graduation. Do you have a job lined up; or are you going to grad school?
MCB-
No job lined up. The economy is completely tanked and no one is hiring entry level. I went to a job fair a couple weeks ago and companies openly admitted they weren’t hiring and didn’t plan to in the near future.
I found the process incredibly tiring and with 100 resumes out and two interviews, I decided to write it off, go home for a little while, and try again in a few months.
My degree is in Biochemistry so I will find something, someday, and I’m not in a massive hurry to become enslaved to the corporate world.
I’m pretty sure the class that retired most of us was Quantum Mechanics, which was pretty much dedicated to teaching you that anything you’d learned to date was an oversimplification. I still solve the schrodinger equations for the hydrogen ion in my nightmares.
Lauren: Try not to get disheartened. It’s going to take awhile before companies learn that they have to offer real value to make money rather than continue pursuing the same old things that people aren’t interested in when money is tight. Some things are will never come back now that people have learned how useless they were and what little they’ve lost now that they don’t have them.
Sadly, unless you go into research or academia, the corporate world awaits us all. It’s not always dark and ominous; but it’s not always sunshine either.
The good thing about Schrödinger’s Equation and eigenvalues, eigenvectors, etc. is that it the theory is so complex many disciplines never need get beyond the oversimplified stuff. I can barely the recall logic behind the equations much less setup and solve problems. Hopefully, The Boy won’t need any help when he reaches those topics.