Quote:
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Originally Posted by sanddrag
I like to feel proud of myself when I come upon a student who can solve any integral on the face of the planet, but who has never taken apart an engine, turned a piece of metal on a lathe, drilled a hole, installed an operating system, served a web page, typed a line of code, purchased a ball bearing, or otherwise.
FIRST gives you exposure to so many things that a majority of students miss out on.
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You've been very dismissive of higher education in your last few posts, but I'm willing to bet that if you want to become an engineer, your future employer will care a lot more about your integral solving abilities, than your abilities as a car mechanic.
Practical knowledge is great, FIRST gives us gobs of it, but unless you put your nose down and learn the theory stuff, you're not going to be any use to anyone as an engineer. We always need to know "why".
-JV
edit:
I feel the need to clarify, after reading Greg's post below... I do not believe theory is everything, and that practical knowledge is useless. Those who know me, know this is DEFINITELY not true. However, I AM arguing that you can't be so dismissive of the theoretical parts of engineering. (No snide comments from my college roommates, please.)
Those who say "It doesn't matter that I am flunking Calculus, because I've gotten lots of experience in FIRST, and that's what will make me a good engineer" are TOTALLY deluding themselves. Stop lying to yourself, you're wrong. Take it from someone who has been there. I took Calc2 twice (I got a D the first time), after my father kicked me in the butt; the 2nd time I got an "A".
Sure, it is good to be on Baja, but if you're learning your integrals too... who cares?
/edit