Is this type of course structure typical in US universities? It seems very strange to me that real analysis wouldn’t be a first semester class, or that such a large proportion of classes in a maths degree would be on anything but maths.
Universities and colleges in the United States have a philosophy of education different from what I gather is common in Europe. Almost all schools require not just mastery in a chosen subject, but also breadth requirements; some number of credits in each of math, science, writing, and the humanities, or some other distributional system.
“I wish we had the education system they have in Doorways in the Sand,” I said… “Did you know, there’s a new Heinlein? The Number of the Beast. And he’s borrowed the idea of that education system, where you study all those different things and sign up and graduate when you have enough credits in everything, and you can keep taking courses forever if you want, but he doesn’t acknowledge Zelazny anywhere.”
Wim laughed. “That’s what they really do in America,” he said.
Is this type of course structure typical in US universities? It seems very strange to me that real analysis wouldn’t be a first semester class, or that such a large proportion of classes in a maths degree would be on anything but maths.
Universities and colleges in the United States have a philosophy of education different from what I gather is common in Europe. Almost all schools require not just mastery in a chosen subject, but also breadth requirements; some number of credits in each of math, science, writing, and the humanities, or some other distributional system.
— Jo Walton, Among Others