damn dirty apes
Jan. 12th, 2005 02:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kleenexwomanSo I finally got each and every last textbook that I need for classes. My anthro prof decided that we needed two books that were not originally on the syllabus, so after class there was a mass migration to the SBX (Student Book Exchange, off-campus bookstore with a good selection and short lines).
I'm extremely excited about two classes in particular. Intro to Logic is one I think I might ace--the first thing the prof told us was that the class would be divided between the students who got it instantly and the students who would be crying in his office. He wasn't trying to be mean, I think, just warning us. He gave us some starter problems and talked about valid and invalid arguments, and I think I got everything. It all seemed very familiar, and the unfamiliar things (I looked ahead in the textbook) sounded very exciting. The problem with applying it to real life will be determining truth in a statement, of course, but that's not something a human can avoid...
Sociology is going to be amazing, I know that. The prof is passionate and likes to rant and pace. I've already read half the textbook.
I was incredibly interested in sociology when I was in middle school. I checked out everything the little school library had on sociology and anthropology, took notes on the sections about conformity and leadership, and then tried to apply various sociological principles to school situations to try to get people to like me or just to make sense of something that I felt left out of (mainly pep rallies and sports-related things). It never worked, and when I asked people about it, they got very offended. My conclusions:
A) The sociology texts were totally wrong.
B) The sociology texts didn't apply to the middle school environment, maybe because middle schoolers weren't actually human.
C) I was misinterpreting the texts.
D) The texts weren't actually "how-to" books.
E) I was misinterpreting people's reactions.
F) My dumb classmates weren't willing to face the brutal truth about their animalistic motivations.
G) I was missing some key factor in the social conventions of middle schoolers.
I finally decided that the answer was "all of the above, but not enough of any of them so that you can fix what you're doing wrong." I also formulated my First Rule of Sociology for Social Misfits: "No matter how much you study the monkeys, you're never going to understand what's so great about bananas."
I'm extremely excited about two classes in particular. Intro to Logic is one I think I might ace--the first thing the prof told us was that the class would be divided between the students who got it instantly and the students who would be crying in his office. He wasn't trying to be mean, I think, just warning us. He gave us some starter problems and talked about valid and invalid arguments, and I think I got everything. It all seemed very familiar, and the unfamiliar things (I looked ahead in the textbook) sounded very exciting. The problem with applying it to real life will be determining truth in a statement, of course, but that's not something a human can avoid...
Sociology is going to be amazing, I know that. The prof is passionate and likes to rant and pace. I've already read half the textbook.
I was incredibly interested in sociology when I was in middle school. I checked out everything the little school library had on sociology and anthropology, took notes on the sections about conformity and leadership, and then tried to apply various sociological principles to school situations to try to get people to like me or just to make sense of something that I felt left out of (mainly pep rallies and sports-related things). It never worked, and when I asked people about it, they got very offended. My conclusions:
A) The sociology texts were totally wrong.
B) The sociology texts didn't apply to the middle school environment, maybe because middle schoolers weren't actually human.
C) I was misinterpreting the texts.
D) The texts weren't actually "how-to" books.
E) I was misinterpreting people's reactions.
F) My dumb classmates weren't willing to face the brutal truth about their animalistic motivations.
G) I was missing some key factor in the social conventions of middle schoolers.
I finally decided that the answer was "all of the above, but not enough of any of them so that you can fix what you're doing wrong." I also formulated my First Rule of Sociology for Social Misfits: "No matter how much you study the monkeys, you're never going to understand what's so great about bananas."
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Hey Rachel
Date: 2005-01-13 12:16 am (UTC)John
Re: Hey Rachel
Date: 2005-01-13 03:52 am (UTC)Re: Hey Rachel
Date: 2005-01-13 06:10 am (UTC)John
Re: Hey Rachel
Date: 2005-01-13 10:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-16 04:44 am (UTC)