Juxtaposition of an excellent and "less-than-average" class

We have just ended the fall semester during when we took two engineering classes required by our program. In the midst of fulfilling these requirements, it was interesting that we were placed in the juxtaposition of (to paraphrase from the title) an awesome class and rather distasteful class (hereby referred to as Class T and F respectively). The many emotions and thoughts invoked in the process are precious and valuable to anyone who is interested in pursuing a teaching career in the future or just anyone else for interest's sake.

What defines an excellent class, or what sets it apart from a bad one? In broad strokes, an excellent class is very similar to a bottle of good wine. The introduction or description must be elaborate and clear. In the context of wine, a decent description runs from the characteristics of the grapes used, the different tones the wine possesses, additional flavors from the aging process and even the kind of food it should pair with. Note the broad concepts: origin, content and applications. All these apply for a class. The teaching faculty should be clear what prerequisites are needed, explain and motivate each subject topic to be covered in the course and lead the students to fruitful application of the content in real world problems.

I used to be a wine idiot, picking up only three of the five primary tastes from any type of wine, namely sweet, sour and bitter. (I suppose it will be weird to pick up saltiness or umami in any wine.) Over the years through trial and error, I improved slightly (still not a wine connoisseur yet). To me, a glass of good wine walks you through the entire process of wine-making. When the cork is removed, you are greeted by fragrance that is weakly fruity and at the same time, almost earthy. As you take the first sip, basic tastes (sweetness and sourness) come in to remind you that everything starts with grapes. As the wine lingers in the oral cavity longer, the characteristic tones emerge. Some alcohol, upon evaporation, then carries the aromatic compounds it dissolves up the nasal passage to the olfactory receptors. These tones and smells, by tantalizing our senses, are almost a mapping of the fermentation and flavor development in our sensation universe. After you swallow the wine, aftertaste appears. Some flavor will persist. Depending on the wine, some amount of tannins will be left behind, giving you some unique texture on your tongue and cheek walls.

A good class therefore walks you through the process of knowledge making. In class T, the professor took time to paint the history of the subject and what have been accomplished thus far. He began on a blank page, almost at the point similar to 2-3 centuries ago where mathematicians and scientists were only beginning to scratch the surface of the topic. Each concept was illustrated and proven in the same way how pioneers in the field arrived at their conclusions. Most importantly, concepts were painstakingly explained in great details before the embarking of mathematical acrobatics. (It makes so much sense to make sure that students are clear with concepts so that they know why they need to a certain mathematical treatment, but you will be surprised not every teacher follows it.) Yet, equations were properly derived with all the assumptions, simplifications etc demonstrated. Important milestone topics were even introduced with stories of how the scientist made the discovery, why he did so or what happened to him after the discovery. Eventually, certain concepts were explicitly used on a problem relevant to the students. Again, all these seem like common sense, but it takes a great amount of organization to pull it off.

Class F transverses on a different path. From day 1, a lot of emphasis was placed on applications. In short, every lecture was almost like "if you know how to do this, you can solve this problem, that problem...." When the time came to the how's of problem solving, two and three equations were smacked across the chalkboard with the derivation skipped. The same theme repeats over and over. It's like telling you that this bottle of wine goes well with certain food and tanah, the bottle of wine is thrown to you with no bottle label, year or description. When you sip the wine, the same basic flavors keep swirling around your mouth, giving rise to nothing interesting. Worse still, quite a few equations were wrong. (Now imagine sipping a salty wine.)

You may ask, what difference does it make as long as the problem is solved and as long as the equations work? Well, the difference is for the former scenario, having experienced the process of "wine-making", the student now knows exactly what lies in the bag to create a wine to go well with a specific type of food. In the process, he understands the fundamentals of wine-food pairing, be inspired by the process of wine making and even with a certain amount of additional training, become a capable wine maker himself. Even better, because the fundamentals are understood, they can be manipulated or used properly in new, creative ways. For the latter, food-wine pairings can still be done. Sadly, it's more mechanical. Sweet wine goes with Food A. Dry wine goes with Food B. Wine-making always remains in a black box untouchable and unreachable.

After both Classes T and F, these two aftertastes still linger in my mouth. But it doesnt take much to predict which one will persist longer and which is the one I would choose to "pair with my food" when the opportunity arises.