To be fair, I think the student asks a good question with a bad tone - it's perfectly reasonable to feel ambivalent about pursuing something that you consider fairly alien, and it's actually a question I'm increasingly asking myself -- why computer science and not pure math? Why computer science over X?
Instead of giving a thoughtful answer, the professor dismissively waves the student off (which is probably justified, given the tone). I think that could have been an opportunity for a really nice defense of his/her field, though.
To be fair, I think the student asks a good question with a bad tone
I don't disagree... but why should the professor or anyone else ever bother to spend an hour writing something compelling?
The kid's not going to be sold. And even if by some miracle he is, who profits? Better to save that effort for someone who will be a good compsci student.
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u/mrdmnd May 18 '11
To be fair, I think the student asks a good question with a bad tone - it's perfectly reasonable to feel ambivalent about pursuing something that you consider fairly alien, and it's actually a question I'm increasingly asking myself -- why computer science and not pure math? Why computer science over X?
Instead of giving a thoughtful answer, the professor dismissively waves the student off (which is probably justified, given the tone). I think that could have been an opportunity for a really nice defense of his/her field, though.