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Letters: Judging a course by its title

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Re “Can’t tell a course by its title,” Opinion, Feb. 24

Rob Stephenson is right about course titles that may not convey exactly what a student learned. A subtitle would make “Street-Fighting Mathematics,” a class he cites that I teach at MIT, more understandable. The book the course is based on is subtitled, “The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Problem Solving.”

Even so, it got a one-star Amazon.com review from a reader who was upset that it did not contain “remedial activities for street kids.” You pays your money and you takes your chances.

Sanjoy Mahajan

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Cambridge, Mass.

The writer teaches electrical engineering and mathematics at MIT and at the Olin College of Engineering.

I note — wistfully — in Stephenson’s piece that Occidental College is apparently offering a course in Stupidity.

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Had that not been a mere course offering but rather a degree program, I think that I might have had a fair shot at graduating summa cum laude as an undergraduate.

Jon Keates

Altadena

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There is a certain irony in the fact that Stephenson is identified at the end of his essay as “a public voices fellow at the OpEd Project.”

Donald Schwartz

Los Angeles

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