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JakeWilson
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jul 12, 2007
Posts: 137
Location: Texas
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 Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:43 am Post subject: A MATH and ENGLISH DOUBLE major??!! |
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Okay, I like knowledge a whole lot. Right now I am a Math major and I am determined to finish as a Math major. But...I am a Bachelor of Arts Math major and I have a lot of extra hours to spend on whatever I want. I love discussion of pretty much anything philosophical and I like historical facts. I also am VERY GOOD at writing papers and speaking in public. I actually got a 680 on the writing section of the SAT. I think I would like to spend my hours to give myself a well rounded education which incorporates Math and either History or English. My goal is to teach in the schools after graduation (*important info to remember*). But I sort of wonder if Math and History would be better than Math and English. My main doubt about my potential to be an English teacher is that I normally do not like fiction. I have about 100 books on my shelf right now and the only fiction on my shelf that I see are Calvin and Hobbes books. Most deal with Theology and Christian Apologetics (about 40% of my shelf!), Math, World War II, and info about wildlife in Texas. I also have History of the American People, Modern Times, and History of the Jews by Paul Johnson. Anyways, I am determined to get a Math degree, but should I also major in History, Economics, or English? An unlikely possibilty that is nevertheless still on the table is a major in Math with a minor in Physics. I do okay at learning Physics and Chemistry CONCEPTS, but I am not a very tech-savvy person and it really makes me nervous to think of myself supervising a high school Physics LAB one day. It seems that the labs I have taken in college I was the one looking to everyone else for help.
I have rarely just absorbed myself in fiction that much in the past, but I haven't exactly despised it either. There is the possibility that fiction could end up being one of those things I end up liking now that I never was a huge fan of before.
What do y'all think an Aspie should do in a situation like this? |
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MissPickwickian
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 27, 2007
Age: 16
Posts: 953
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:00 am Post subject: Re: A MATH and ENGLISH DOUBLE major??!! |
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| JakeWilson wrote: | | An unlikely possibilty that is nevertheless still on the table is a major in Math with a minor in Physics. I do okay at learning Physics and Chemistry CONCEPTS, but I am not a very tech-savvy person and it really makes me nervous to think of myself supervising a high school Physics LAB one day. It seems that the labs I have taken in college I was the one looking to everyone else for help. |
Same here. I took high school Chemistry, adored the subject, and struggled to pass. Passion is important, but so is talent. 
I would go with...history (if you want to double or minor with math, that's your choice. I'm out of my league because I cannot imagine being, or even wanting to be, a--shudder--math major). It seems to be something you both like and are good at.
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Fnord
Metasyntactic Variable
Joined: May 07, 2008
Posts: 3658
Location: Pantopia
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:04 am Post subject: |
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A MATH and ENGLISH DOUBLE major??!! WOW!
Not only will you learn to say, "Do want to super-size your order?", but you be able to count out the correct change, as well!
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Awesomelyglorious
Destroyer of worlds, reaver of souls
Joined: Dec 18, 2005
Posts: 6120
Location: United States
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Fnord wrote: | A MATH and ENGLISH DOUBLE major??!! WOW!
Not only will you learn to say, "Do want to super-size your order?", but you be able to count out the correct change, as well!
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Actually, from what I've heard, math majors can do pretty well on the job market. I mean, logical thinking skills are very valuable, especially if they come with computer skills and things like that. English majors are crap though.
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Destroying reality since the end of time. |
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Awesomelyglorious
Destroyer of worlds, reaver of souls
Joined: Dec 18, 2005
Posts: 6120
Location: United States
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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As for what you should do?
I would flat-out avoid English. I personally do not like the subject too much, but that is because my brain is way too literal to understand the hidden meanings of a cat in the background of a fiction book. Also, I think English will force you to do a lot of fiction stuff and poetry stuff, so if that isn't your bag, then avoid it, as yes, there is a chance you won't like it, but there is also a chance that you avoid it because you are already weak in the subject, and English will just fry your mind.
History will round out your education a lot more in some ways, as it is more of a humanity in some ways, and will sharpen your writing skills. The issue with history is that I am not sure it is a thinking subject(like English or Econ) so much as a fact memorization subject and I see the latter as less valuable in general(although I would bet that at higher levels historians really do have to think, I just would bet that the undergraduate level it is more fact oriented). The facts from history however, may be useful to latch onto a theoretical side of your personality to really help you understand people and societies.
Econ will just further increase your analytical skills, it may help you conceptualize people somewhat by giving you a model of human behavior, but it won't help you with all models necessarily. Econ really won't round you out so much as refine your logic and perhaps make you a more agile thinker but without giving you so broad of a base of understanding.
If your plan is to be a teacher, I would probably pick history for your degree. Also, I would make sure you were on the right track to teach, I think to teach in most schools, you either have to have a masters degree in your subject, a masters degree in education, or an undergraduate degree in education, I am not certain about that, so don't quote me.
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Destroying reality since the end of time. |
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JakeWilson
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jul 12, 2007
Posts: 137
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Awesomelyglorious wrote: | As for what you should do?
I would flat-out avoid English. I personally do not like the subject too much, but that is because my brain is way too literal to understand the hidden meanings of a cat in the background of a fiction book. Also, I think English will force you to do a lot of fiction stuff and poetry stuff, so if that isn't your bag, then avoid it, as yes, there is a chance you won't like it, but there is also a chance that you avoid it because you are already weak in the subject, and English will just fry your mind.
History will round out your education a lot more in some ways, as it is more of a humanity in some ways, and will sharpen your writing skills. The issue with history is that I am not sure it is a thinking subject(like English or Econ) so much as a fact memorization subject and I see the latter as less valuable in general(although I would bet that at higher levels historians really do have to think, I just would bet that the undergraduate level it is more fact oriented). The facts from history however, may be useful to latch onto a theoretical side of your personality to really help you understand people and societies.
Econ will just further increase your analytical skills, it may help you conceptualize people somewhat by giving you a model of human behavior, but it won't help you with all models necessarily. Econ really won't round you out so much as refine your logic and perhaps make you a more agile thinker but without giving you so broad of a base of understanding.
If your plan is to be a teacher, I would probably pick history for your degree. Also, I would make sure you were on the right track to teach, I think to teach in most schools, you either have to have a masters degree in your subject, a masters degree in education, or an undergraduate degree in education, I am not certain about that, so don't quote me. |
For High School teachers, you just get an undergrad in your subject area. College Professors have to go higher though. I think your analysis is good. History probably would be the best fit because it is factual. Also it does round my education pretty well. |
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Tim_Tex
WP's Resident Simpsons and South Park Aficionado
Joined: Jul 03, 2004
Age: 28
Posts: 22319
Location: San Marcos, Texas
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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I would have considered a geography/geology double major...but the nearest school to me that offered both, as well as the urban planning emphasis with geography, was in Mississippi.
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pineapple
Deinonychus
Joined: May 01, 2006
Age: 24
Posts: 380
Location: san francisco
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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Wait, is that supposed to be surprising? (It isn't, really... )
What you major in doesn't matter all that much, except in the case of science or something equally technical, or if you're planning on going a certain graduate program. I have a lot of friends that did double majors, and I never really saw the point. You might actually become more marketable by doing internships or something. But at the end of the day, you should just do what you like best to do.
I can tell you that if you don't like fiction, you will probably not enjoy being an English teacher.
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Sylvius
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Jun 18, 2007
Posts: 187
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Awesomelyglorious wrote: | As for what you should do?
I would flat-out avoid English. I personally do not like the subject too much, but that is because my brain is way too literal to understand the hidden meanings of a cat in the background of a fiction book. |
You don't need to understand it. Just make stuff up.
Really. If you're ever writing a paper about some work of fiction, you can easily come up with a topic by assuming that the main character is secretly gay and going from there.
English is easy.
But dull.
I majored in Philosophy and Astrophysics. |
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MissPickwickian
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 27, 2007
Age: 16
Posts: 953
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:58 am Post subject: |
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| Sylvius wrote: |
Really. If you're ever writing a paper about some work of fiction, you can easily come up with a topic by assuming that the main character is secretly gay and going from there.
English is easy.
But dull.
I majored in Philosophy and Astrophysics. |
You can do this because literature is highly mutable. Literature, at least good literature, can be interpreted in many different ways (which is why so many aspies hate it). Does this render the discipline of studying it useless? I don't know.
Literature is not a thing. Literature is a world view.
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Awesomelyglorious
Destroyer of worlds, reaver of souls
Joined: Dec 18, 2005
Posts: 6120
Location: United States
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| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:17 am Post subject: |
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| Sylvius wrote: |
You don't need to understand it. Just make stuff up.
Really. If you're ever writing a paper about some work of fiction, you can easily come up with a topic by assuming that the main character is secretly gay and going from there.
English is easy.
But dull.
I majored in Philosophy and Astrophysics. |
Yeah, well, I am bad at the making stuff up part. Like, I see a pile of nonsense, and ask myself "How can I make sense of this?"... and yeah, I start writing math equations to make myself feel calmer.
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