The Need For Writing Across the Curriculum

Omar,

Will do.

Urs,

If only lightening would strike you...

Saminasha #13
Good luck with your course!

Bina Shah,

I haven`t had any formal training in writing, even then I would like to take a stab at one of the problems proposed in your piece, namely explaining whether (a + b)² = a² + b² is true or false. My explanation goes like this:

``We have (a + b)² = a² + b² which can be rewritten as:

(a + b) x (a + b) = a² + b² (i)

Let us assume that a + b = c, and we replace the first a + b in (i) with c. This gives us:

c x (a + b) = a² + b² (ii)

Now we can see that the left hand side of (ii) can be decomposed using the distributive law, giving us:

c x a + c x b = a² + b² (iii)

Now we substitute c = a + b into (iii), giving us:

(a + b) x a + (a + b) x b = a² + b² (iv)

By applying the distributive law on the right hand side of (iv) again, we get:

a² + ab + ab + b² = a² + b² (v)

Simplifying (v) leaves:

2ab = 0

Which is clearly false except for one of the following three degenerate cases:

1) a = 0
2) b = 0
3) a = 0 and b = 0

And in the degenerate case (i) can be rewritten to eliminate the 0 term(s) and transform the equation into a true one (the discussion of degenerate cases are advanced enough so that anyone studying them would surely have a firm grasp over the original anyway).``

The whole point of this little exercise was that I disagree with the article. Writing, literature, poetry, they all have their place. But, my point of view is that they should be taught and taught well upto highschool (FSc) level. After that, only those that need writing as a primary tool in their professions (writers, journalists, literature majors) should be taught writing, the others should spend the same time strengthening their knowledge and grasp over their own domaines.

I am an engineer, I have worked in the industry, and now I am a graduate student, so I would be confident in saying I have a grasp on the issues at hand. And since I am only an engineer and nothing more, I will not venture a guess and assume I know what is needed and what is not for the curricula of other fields. Me and my Pakistani friends in grad school feel that what we lack most is a stronger base in mathematics, and most of us blame our secondary education system, specifically FSc, which is burdened with so much excess baggage and our undergraduate education, which was not vigorous enough in mathematics.

My boss (when I was working) was a brilliant man. Even though he was inarticulate and could not write well even if his life depended on it, yet, he was widely respected and revered as a professional. He was admired by his subordinates, respected by his superiors and envied by his peers, simply because of his technical prowess. Lack of writing or communication skill did not become a hindrance to his career.

The French are famous for not knowing english (or knowing it very poorly). Yet French researchers routinely write research papers in english (because research done in english has a global impact). Their research papers are filled with grammatical and spelling errors, but they are still highly regarded because of their riguour and quality. You see, in engineering, what matters is what you have to say, not how you say it.

If your rebuttal to my argument will be that these people would be more successful if they had better writing skills, then let me say that it is a zero-sum game. An increase in one domain must be matched by a decrease in another (fixed number of classes support this theory). And in my opinion, the loss suffered due to the decrease in technical competency would outweigh the advantage gained due to the increase in expressiveness.

Regards,
Irfan.

samina im serious -- plz do it sooner than later (i sound like an officious editor type there) :)

irfan hamid

according to the the elementary level algebra (a+b)^2 = a^2+b^2+2ab and is not equal to a^2+b^2 as you wrote down. That`s called much ado about nothing.

Urstruly,

The problem was to demonstrate the correctness or incorrectness of the statement (a + b)² = a² + b². If someone doesn`t know that (a + b)² != a² + b² then just telling him/her that (a + b)² = a² + b² + 2ab isn`t much of an explanation is it? I did it using even more elemtary principles, which I suppose was the object of the exercise anyway.

Regards,
Irfan.

Irfan

I guess you are right. However, confusion arose when you did not state the problem well. The equation a^2+b^2=(a+b)^2 should have been assigned a statement mentioning that it was assumed to be true and then all the exrcise below could have been used as a criterion to check the validity of our supposition. But your procedure is correct.

Omar,

Well thank you for not allowing me to procrastinate! (kidding) Acha, I`ve sent you an email already.

Urstruly,

I didn`t state the problem at all because it was one of the challenge problems stated in the article :)

Regards,
Irfan.

ok will check then, thanks

The issue of education is one that receives lip-service in Pakistan. The basic problem however is not just with the curriculum. There is chronic under-investment in education with certain government minsters favouring the private education system.

In most cases, until recently, a new primary school teacher has barely graduated from secondary school. If poorly educated teachers teach infants, those children will grow up illiterate, and not interested in educating themselves. What is needed is not teenaged primary teachers but entry qualifications to involve at least three or four years of post-secondary education.

I have long been a proponent of countries such as Pakistan starting from scratch and designing a curriculum to match their specific situations. Pakistan is a land rich in natural resources and a potentially huge labour-force. With the right investment in education and health, there is no reason why Pakistan`s people cannot become the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world in a matter of years.

There is of course the old argument - money has to go to the defence budget. If we look at that argument we can see that much of the budget goes on maintaining a large poorly-equipped infantry force and a few prestige projects like the never-ending F16 saga. I say cut the infantry by at least one-third and get rid of some prestige projects. Split the savings between education, health and new defence projects. Why send your soldiers on foot when you could build them a couple of thousand decent APC`s to replace that pile of crap M113`s. Instead of sending large delegations abroad to mull over other countries military industries, look within Pakistan. Pakistani`s are not idiots - they too can manufacture advanced technology like fighter jets. All it takes is some faith from the government.

By investing large amounts on indigenous projects, you create job opportunities, raise your technology threshold and boost your economy. Why bother to buy anything for defence from foreign companies? When push comes to shove and a war looms, you don`t want to be begging foreign nations to send you spare parts. You want to be confident that those new fighter jets and APC`s will get spare parts from the factories you built in your own country. You will ask yourself why you feared military sanctions all those years ago?

Another important area to invest in is a strong air force and a NAVY. Some foolish officials still believe the Pakistani Navy should be a coast guard. What they fail to appreciate is that a coast guard can do little against the warships that India will inevitably send during a war. What Pakistan needs is a strong, self-reliant, indigenously-built navy. Aircraft carriers (air defence ships as India likes to call them), crusiers, frigates, minesweepers, patrol craft, resupply ships and especially submarines. Give your defence forces a bigger toolkit to fight with and give your economy much needed security.

Along the way, that spare cash will improve your schools and hospitals without jeopardising national defence.

I know my reply here diverges a little, but I think the problem is a lot bigger than just the curriculum.