Word: backgrounder
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...fool!). 3) Help you make that witty, bantering, sophisticated small talk that the seasoned Harvardian is expected to make. While the proclaimed purpose of the Historical Study A Core maybe be to train the uncouth species known as the Harvard science concentrator to grasp the “background and development of major issues of the contemporary world,” just remember that its dull slogan is code for empowering the socially awkward to achieve their maximum well-rounded socialite potential.Math concentrators accustomed to focusing on less than sixty pages of reading a week will bemoan the prospect...
...makes a point of telling students that if they can count to 12 in time with a dance from Le Sacre du Printemps, they’ll be able to succeed in the course. This summarizes a lot of classes in Lit and Arts B. A musical or artistic background might come in handy, but a specialized knowledge of visual art or music is not needed to succeed. Lit and Arts B allows students to explore fields like music or art without braving difficult departmental courses. These Cores, when taught well, provide information about paintings or compositions as well...
...This is not really mathematics. Math 23 is for those who wish that they could be mathematicians, but aren’t eager to sacrifice their health and sanity. They drink decaf coffee. Math 25 is for those who have no such qualms, but with only an AP Calculus background. They have some psychopathic need to prove themselves to the world. Math 55 is for those who have been reared from the cradle to be mathematicians. They aced the AP Calc exam at age 12, but may be unable to pass a Turing test. Concentrators often finish requirements in their...
...definitely helps to be a science concentrator in this class. The material is very biological, so those with a biological background have a huge advantage over the Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy concentrators required to take the course because they're in the Mind, Brain, and Behavior track. The Kandel textbook, written for upper level courses, is dense and chock-full of arcane jargon—don't bother buying...
...available information well. When we have the foresight to know we can’t do so, responsibility compels us to ignore some information. Recruiters don’t ask for race or age or sex. Doctors don’t demand that patients undergo criminal background checks. In such situations, we recognize that more information can give us more choices and at the same time, make us poorer decision-makers. And so we decide that the best choice is to make the information flow stop...