The Weakest Link

The transformation of the University's science departments into service schools calls for a corresponding acceleration in those departments, like mathematics, which are feeders for the sciences. No engineer, physicist, or chemist can proceed far without a basic mathematical training, for more than one bridge has fallen or radio gone dead because of weaknesses in its designer's calculus.

So far the Math Department has awakened to but half the challenge. While preparing to meet the demands of such programs as V-7 by offering elementary courses in trigonometry and high-school algebra, they have done nothing to remove the anachronism of an undergraduate study-course which most nearly resembles the extravagant tales of Progressive Education in the freedom of material which it allows its section men, and in the resulting lack of rigorous or uniform training. The fastest Math A sections cover a wealth of material never approached by their slower brethren, and the final examinations of the former group are often meaningless to even the best of the students forced to pursue the slower course. In theory the sections of this introductory calculus course are never more than three days apart: actually the lag frequently amounts to more than a month.

This inter-sectional gap is more than filled by the two months of almost straight revue work which open Math 2, but the time lost there and in the balance of this overly leisurely course constitutes one of the worst bottle-necks in the training of scientists for defense. In time of peace this laxness may have been partially balanced by the freedom allowed the section men to touch upon advanced topics in their special fields, but in a war training program this aspect of a liberal education must be sacrificed. Not only does it delay mathematical training, but it makes it impossible for the teachers of other science courses to count upon a working mathematical background in their students. More than one post-Christmas physics lecture has had to be suddenly reorganized upon the discovery that half the class was unaware of the meaning of an integral sign or a differential.

The University at war demands a reshuffling in the middle mathematics courses. Scientific training would be greatly facilitated by a uniformity of material and drill, while the time saved by such a reorganization would allow the important material of Math 5a to be included in Math 2, making the former a non-essential for advanced science students, and saving an additional half-year of preparation.