Published Jul 26, 2004

Insofar as I haven’t used my post-algebra math in seven (stats) to ten (calculus) years, I scored poorly on Marshall’s pre-entry math assessment test. My sentence: three half-day refresher classes.

These are my first classes of any type since 1997. Class, may I say, is weird. Where else does everybody sit in a semicircle around a room while one person at the front holds forth, making notes on whiteboards and projecting PowerPoints? AA, maybe, but I wouldn’t know anything about that.

So, dashing Kiwi prof Gareth James attempted valiantly to get 16 or so students, none of whom had been in a class in years, to ask questions and interact and stuff. By the end of class, people were starting to speak up. It’ll be odd being in class, just having the normal lecture/discussion interaction; class isn’t something that happens in normal life, or, at least, not in mine. But folks seem smart, not just knowledgeable but, best of all, clever and quick to catch on.

Plus I got a few answers right. Never too soon for an ego boost!