There's some physics forums I lurk and occasionally post in, and every time the discussion goes beyond physics, holy shit are their opinions dumb as fuck. Just getting someone to understand a simple point that anyone could understand with like 2 sentences just feels like wading through mud with them because every time anything seems to challenge one of their preconceived opinions at all (or if they just don't understand it because they're out of touch) they get annoyed, and then they fixate on irrelevant parts of your point until you have to explain that part of your point again and again and again, and then everyone forgets what it was even about. Especially the boomers in there.

Then there's the ones "helping" people, who will basically act like they are doing a MASSIVE courtesy to you by explaining things, so they'll put people through the shredder for misunderstanding something or for phrasing the question in a way that isn't absolutely perfectly 100% crystal clear as if their compiler is giving an error or something.

And it's not just people in forums, like almost all the professors I know are also just complete morons about anything even slightly unrelated to their specialty.

Why are science nerds like that, I fucking hate it. Like holy shit grow up >:(

    • Lerios [hy/hym]
      ·
      4 years ago

      In my experience thats an incredibly american thing. I've only ever heard of someone who is taking a specific degree having to do classes about something else too in american cartoons and stuff, never seen it irl. Surely usually a person taking a certian degree would only do lectures about that degree's subject, right? On most courses in my country it is possible to take a foriegn language if you want to, but even thats kind of rare.

        • Lerios [hy/hym]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Sounds a bit complicated, and, more importantly, like you'd have to pay for an extra year. Being well-rounded is great and all, but I don't like the idea of voluntarily paying to drag my dyslexic ass through another round of language classes, or watching more artisticly inclided friends cry over failing compulsory maths classes again like in school, especially if it wont actually help them contribute to their field.

          Most people don't do degrees; getting an education to be well rounded and generally knowledgable should be what school is for so that everyone gets it, whereas a degree is a very specific qualification to work in a specific field. While I would like an excuse to take an art class occasionally, I think a shorter, less general degree makes a bit more sense than the american system, but I'm glad it worked out for you comrade!

    • late90smullbowl [they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I'm not referring to any specific college, am making a broader general point. With respect, there are a lot of colleges you're probably not aware of. Anecdotally, I'm aware of dentist/orthodontist, engineering, and Commerce/Business degree programmes, in various colleges, where students got away without a humanities module. These were internationally well regarded colleges. This was ten years ago, so it's only got worse since then. This is a general trend over the last 30 years.

      More shocking to me was learning of schools where at high-school level the subject of History, with even the most basic lib syllabus, has been made entirely optional in favour of website design or whatever. Generations growing up with zero historical context. What's the Berlin wall?