Monday, April 4, 2016

Prompt Post #1 - Breaking Assumptions

By Dan O.

Physics is a large field with a variety of people and personalities. However, many who go into physics have similar interests and dislikes because of the nature of the major. However, there are certain stereotypes about the major that are hard to break. People believe that physics is full of nerds. People with no social life, other than school and math. This stereotype exists as a harmful one, one that dissuades people from entering to STEM fields, ad especially physics because it is seen as uncool.
Another stereotype that exists about physics, that separates it from other fields, is that many people see it as difficult and soul-sucking. Looking at my current textbook for PHY 321, this is half-true. The mathematics reaches up to Advanced Linear Algebra, with my current class reaching up to calculus 4. However, this difficulty is a relative one, because many different fields have their own relative difficulty, including both memorization and comprehension. Yes, physics is difficult, but it is relatively so. To me, biology or engineering is difficult because I do not understand the intricacies of those fields nor am I passionate about learning as people in other majors are.

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