One of the classes I'm taking at West Chester on Tuesdays and Thursdays is Discrete Math. Discrete Math is basically turning out to be the study of things that are ture and false, and how to determine is something is true or false via logical argument.
We're learning such things as boolean algebra, truth tables, ands, ors, nots, venn diagrams, and proof by induction. It's mostly a formal spin on the common sense understanding of truth.
My class is filled with the usual evening-hour students. They're mostly of two types: Returning adult students (see also: me), and regular students who were too lazy/stupid to register when the daytime classes were still open. That's the impression I get from the high intelligence level in the class, anyway. There is one exception to this set of students, though. Annoying Kid.
Annoying Kid must be in the 12-15 range. His mom comes to pick him up from class every day. Any none of this is why I like to call him annoying kid, because certainly none of what I mentioned already is annoying. No, actually, Annoying Kid is annoying. In order to explain why he annoys, I'll have to describe the particular type of behavior he exhibits.
This is a very strange phenomenon, because in a college environment you might think that you would like open dialog during class. You might expect that students in the class would call out answers to questions when the teacher poses them. But there is some kind of unspoken rule that students in college classes apply wherein it's simply not cool to speak out in class.
I'm not sure exactly how to quantify this rule. There are times when it's ok to speak out in class. Certainly when the teacher asks a question. But usually answers are provided only when they will move the class toward its conclusion. Rhetorical questions should be left floating unanswered at the penalty of having all of your cool revoked. Most questions are rhetorical.
There is also some miswiring in this kid's head where he just doesn't shut up. He seems to know the material pretty well, but he just doesn't get the fact that other people in the class are trying to learn and he's really not giving them the chance to reason it out.
Furthermore, it turns out he's really not so smart. I told Nana about this young'n in my class and she was impressed. Impressed by what? The fact that he has escewed any social graces and abandoned the opportunity to be with like-aged friends in daylight hours to waste time proving that he knows discrete math? This child is going to be very poorly adjusted when he graduates. It's no wonder all of our high intellectuals are so socially inept.
Anyway...
I assume that you are all too used to listening to me rant about every little thing, and so I've decided to provide you with some evidence. This evidence will likely serve only to prove that I am a kook that complains about everything, but I swear to you that other people in my class feel similarly about Annoying Kid.
Here is the evidence. Selected clips of Annoying Kid in class.
I provide this transcript because the audio is a little muddy from the recorder being in my shirt pocket with a very noisy air conditioner running full blast and the windows open. Why is the AC on with the windows open? Beats me. Actually, the audio is pretty good considering the circumstances.
Here, the teacher is factoring an equation on the board and the Annoying Kid. You'll see how Annoying Kid eventually overtakes the teacher:
Teacher: The left-hand side is...
Teacher and Annoying Kid simultaneously: one.
Teacher: The sum of the first n integers if n is one is...
AK (overpowered by noise): One.
Teacher: one. The right-hand side is...
AK (fast, to get it in before the teacher): Two over two.
Teacher (getting annoyed, slow down): One times two over two is one.
Later that class...
Teacher: Why is it true at 1003?
AK: Because it's true at 1002, because it's true at 1001...
Teacher: ...and...
AK: ...because it's...
Teacher: ...and...
AK: ...true at 1000
Teacher: ...and by the time you get back to one it'll be next Thursday, but you get the idea.
And during another class, the teacher asks for the sum of the squares of all integers to n...
Teacher (trepidatious to take answer from AK): Yeeees?
AK (seemingly out of his head): Um, it is n times n plus one times two n plus all of that over six. I read all of that out of the book.
Teacher: Ok.
AK (revealing himself): I got that out of the book.
Teacher: And does the book tell you...
AK (ugh): I proved it by mathematical induction and it is.
>Some noise and coughing<
Teacher: ...the sum of the first n [cubes]?
AK: n times n plus one over 2 and all of that is squared.
Teacher: And does your book tell you about the sum of the first [writes 1^4, 2^4, 3^4, ..., n^4]?
AK: No, it doesn't. As a matter of fact, are we going to do that?
Teacher: It might be nice to figure out what it is.
These were the first examples that came out of the two hours of sometimes continuous Annoying Kid dialog. I wish I would have recorded our first class session, during which Annoying Kid talked more than the teacher did. Unfortunately, I think someone clued him in to the whole "Coolness" thing, or he proved by mathematic induction that all of our glares meant that he was being annoying.
