Why if you're still in school you should become a pure mathematician

[Negi]

If you're in school and want to do math, you want to make sure that you choose the hardest version of your sequence.  That's because they have real mathematicians teaching the harder courses while they have grad students teaching the bullshit ones. 

[SuperEric]

High school math teachers got paid to teach math. University math teachers get paid to do math. There is a huge difference in the level on interest in the subject and thus quality of teaching.

The most inspiring and motivating teachers I ever had were high school math teachers... somehow the absent-minded, disinterested professor stereotype has dominated my university-level math experiences.

[Negi]

That's because you took some bullshit classes.  if your lecture has more than 30 people after the first month, you're in the wrong class.  Every professor I've had for math has been excellent.  I''ve heard from friends of mine that the professors for the low-level calculus classes suck.  Basically,when you take a class with a small number of people that's really difficult, you spend a lot of time on the material, but you gain so much from it.  In my first semester of my math sequence, we finished introductory analysis, learned a good amount of topology, and also learned a bit of modern algebra.  In the second semester, we did a little more analysis, then most of linear algebra, a whole lot more of topology and modern algebra, and then finished off with some more analysis.  We proved every single part of everything we've done.  Most of the material you learn is on the homework.  No homework is busy-work.  Everything is important. 

[SuperEric]

I think we are talking about fundamentally different schools. I took a year's worth of math (multivariable calc, linear algebra, differential equations), but each course had an enrollment of 100+. At my very large public university, you can't really find <=30 person classes until 3rd or 4th year.

I think it depends on what the school optimizes for. It sounds like your school optimizes the learning experience, while my school optimizes for papers published, which makes no guarantee about the teaching ability of its professors. I've seen a professor sigh in relief when he realized he didn't have to teach for a quarter and could focus on his research.

[Negi]

I'm at the University of Michigan which is a VERY LARGE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

So you're just wrong.  You're taking the wrong classes.

Math classes I've taken so far:
Honors Mathematics I - 30 people
Honors Mathematics II - same people but 10 more dropped so only 20
Intro to Topology - 16 people
Algebraic Structures - 20 people

I'm just taking grad and grad courses as a sophomore:
Intro to the theory of numbers (575) - 20 undergrad 10 grad
Algebra I (593) -10 undergrad 23 grad
Honors analysis I (395) -15 people

See you just don't try hard enough

[SuperEric]

That's pretty good. I guess what it comes down to is the fact that those math classes I took were simply prerequisites for my actual major, so it shouldn't be surprising that I have indifferent professors, seeing as how most of the students are rather indifferent. I stand by my point, though, that I found my high school math teachers to be very inspiring and engaged relative to my professors at the university level.

[Negi]

As I said, that's why you should be a MATH major.

[mAc Chaos]

Have you taken any Calculus?  Or Discrete Structures, or Linear Algebra?

[Negi]

Wow you're dumb.
Or sarcastic.

Honors Mathematics I is all of math from set theory to the end of calc 2
Honors Mathematics II is Linear Algebra and Calc 3 and a whole bunch of topology and group theory.

All with proofs.
And when I say all with proofs, I mean that the tests are proofs, the homeworks are proofs, etc.  I haven't done a calculation in like a year and a half.
And discrete structures is like number theory for homos.

[mAc Chaos]

I'm dumb because I don't know what the kind of math the courses at your University entail?    Clearly, "Honors Math" told me everything I needed to know.  You're silly.

[Negi]

If you'd read what I'd said before...
But I apologize for calling you dumb.  Anyway, yeah, discrete math is some bullllllllllshit.

[Zilla-]

<3 discrete math

[Negi]

More like 3O: ballsack dipping into open mouth discrete math.

More like Zilla- is gay discreet math.

[IskatuMesk]

more like lol @ math

[DrumsofWar]

Mesk thinks that math destroyed Canada.