Thoughts | Math Misery?

One of the services that I offer falls under the category of “Professional Development” and is directed towards individuals rather than companies (my other clients). The individuals I work with are often in a career transition phase and want to / need to acquire new job-related skills — learning a new programming language, getting started with programming for the first time, learning about data analysis methods, etc.

My clients’ occupational demographic for the Professional Development service is broad. I’ve worked with small business owners, coffee chain baristas, cooks, social workers, lawyers, bankers and other finance professionals, a project manager at a civil engineering firm, and so on. These folks are smart, hard working, and are looking to improve their knowledge base, often in something quantitative. Some folks I’ve worked with for years, while others it is usually no more than 40 hours of engagement because they’ve learned what they sought out to learn and can pick up the rest on their own. I love working with these individuals because they come to me with an open mind, wanting to learn, are ready to put their own time in, and do not view their education as a bureaucratic process.

Amusingly, and sadly, I get coursework “help” requests from other people seeking my professional development service. While generally speaking, I’m open to helping anyone who wants to learn, I am careful about who I engage with and how I engage with them.

Sometimes I find it hard to distinguish between behavior that is a result of “human nature” and behavior that is a result of societal / environmental conditioning. Maybe human nature is all the behaviors on the spectrum of behaviors — from lazy to ambitious, from lying, cheating, stealing to soberingly honest, from irrational to rational (or perhaps minimally irrational), from passive to aggressive, etc.

For all the talk about how much more valuable it is to earn a(n) (advanced) degree, I wonder what people actually know based on the degrees they hold. People are going back to school to earn a certificate / degree in computer science, data science, etc. as programming and other computer-based skills have become more important and relevant for one’s income. Of course, because of this demand, universities and other higher education institutions have been offering courses and degrees in response. And the circle of competition continues. But some people just love shortcuts.

School and education, for some, seems to be a 12 to 16 year-long paper process. Maybe that’s how school started off for them and they continued to treat that way. But when they decide to go back to school, they continue to treat it like a paper process. I wonder how they will raise their kids to understand / appreciate the value of learning things properly?

Anyway, below is a sample of some requests that I receive for “Professional Development”. Academic honesty doesn’t seem to be in their nature and I merrily turn down their requests. But it is amazing that they have no problems making the requests that they make and about the topics they need help with! Good heavens, how did they even get this far? And if they got as far as they got, they ought to be able to figure out the material on their own! But if the email requests are an indication of their behavior, it is doubtful that they passed their earlier coursework in an academically honest way.

I’ll be updating this aperiodically.

As of December 16, 2014

Hi…

I’ve just been surfing around google looking for javascript tutors…[edited out]
So… I am taking Javascript for fun this semester to expose me to it, since I know HTML, CSS (HTML5), C++, (haven’t taken Java yet, but will probably next semester)
Anyway, as I said, I’m taking this class for fun, I have an A in it… but I fell behind. It’s an online class at the college I am taking it so it was very easy to fall behind with all the engineering classes I’m taking. It’s too late into the semester to withdraw it, especially when I have an A… but I am having SOOOO much trouble catching up…. because first off—I basically forgot what I’ve learned since I haven’t done assignments in like a month and a half—I just started catching up and I’m about 2 weeks behind now. That’s pretty much the ordeal—I can’t remember tons of stuff and don’t have time to re-read things and repractice them. I can do that for fun over winter break now that I have a foundation.

What I’m asking is some help with finishing up the assignments, which don’t seem too difficult, if I could remember some of the stuff… and also possibly help even on my final project and online final exam that’s timed.. ugh… This class was supposed to be an easy A for me had I not fallen so behind, but whatever, I have As in my other classes that are more orientated towards my career—however, obviously if I can pull of an A, I want to get it in this class, especially when I have one already.

A little about my self, I live in [edited out].. I’m 28 (I know a bit late for college… but that’s a long story, started when I was 18… dropped out 3 years later to become a pilot, became a pilot and that hit the fan real quick, back to finishing my EE degree that I left as a JR, but now I have to start as a Soph. at [edited out] … oh well, it is what it is… )

Let me know if you can help me online…. I have [edited out] … whichever. Also, how much do you pay… obviously I am a student, don’t have much, but maybe we can do like an hourly thing? I see there are tutoring services that do this online but they seem expensive for what this is… so let me know what you would charge. I mean, even if you would charge a steeper price (my definition of steep) I would be ok with it if you can help finish a lot of assignments quickly and can help with the final project and online test. They’re probably easy for you.

Holy moly! I don’t even know where to begin! I haven’t responded to this, but good grief.

Talk about entitlement! “I want to get an A in this class, since I already have one.” I want a million dollars since I’m already worth that.
Look, guy, it’s never too late for college or for learning, but you’re doing this all wrong. Getting a degree is different from getting an education. Any bozo can get a degree — just shell out enough cash and some “accredited” institution will eventually grant you a piece of paper. Then you’ll feel like you can fit in with the rest of our “educated” society. Then you’ll have kids. Then you’ll yell at your kids’ teachers when they don’t give your kid the A he/she “deserves” because your kid already had an A, so they should have an A.
Knowledge has an upkeep cost. Just because you “learned it” doesn’t mean you’ll retain it indefinitely without ever having to access that knowledge.
The assignments probably are easy for me … you know why? Because I put in the time to re-read things and re-practice.
You have As in your other classes? Did you pay for those too?
You’re getting an Engineering degree and you don’t think that JavaScript will be a requisite thing for your career? I hope your new career works out better than your pilot career. I wonder what skills you thought you didn’t need to be a pilot, but really did need, but never knew you needed because you never learned them in the first place.
You know why those online “tutoring” services are so expensive? They know that you know diddly. And their knowledge is your money in their pockets.
Your definition of steep is irrelevant.

As of December 7, 2014

Hi there,

I have an advanced Java class that i thought it will be easy and I thought that i will have an extra time to study which i found myself lost in the subject now. i’m very new to the coding things and it’s not my major and what i’m going to do has nothing to do with coding so i just want to pass this course

it becomes very difficult for me to catch up at this point so i need a help in solving the home work and taking the exam online at least at this point it become very stressful for me now

I would like to have an idea about all the home work and exam though but i can’t do it alone so i need someone to do it and guide me thought it if it’s possible

Please let em know if you can help and if you are an expert and Java and applet because it’s an advanced course
thanks

First I laughed for a minute when I read this because this is exactly what the “real world” — that world that some people want education to focus on — is. It’s an exchange of services for payment. This person’s business (being a student) requires certain tasks to be completed. And like any business owner, if they can’t do the task themselves, then they’ll just hire someone who can. That’s the real world! What’s funny / ironic is that one of the things I do for a living is software development and some of the development requests are no more complicated than what this individual wanted. But this is a school request, so I responded with

Hi,

Thanks for the message. Unfortunately, the service that you are requesting is one that I am unable to provide as it will undoubtedly violate the school’s Academic Honesty Policy.

He actually then wrote back with “Okay thnx”!

School and the “real world” are different and they have to stay different, but not necessarily disjoint. See my response for the next one.

Hi,
Hope this message is not going to end up in your spam folder. I have an C++ assignment that is due today. I know you prefer to meet in person but i am all the way in Long Island city. Could I email you the problem and you write the code and email me back. I can pay you through paypal. We can meet in person next week for the next assignment. Please let me know as soon as you can,

Thanks so much,

I responded with

I do not offer this type of service as it undoubtedly violates practically any school’s academic honesty policy and does nothing to further one’s education in the subject matter. The purpose of an assignment is to struggle and learn from it rather than complete it as part of a bureaucratic process.

How much do you charge to take a test? I would be in class and send you the test.

I initially ignored this, but then about 10 hours or so later, I got another email from him saying “Are you available now?”. So I wrote back telling him that I do not offer the service he seeks.

Hello ,

I am a college student and I am enrolled into a python course, and I want to inquire about your services for my assignments. Please contact as soon as possible

I didn’t bother to respond.

do you know C and MIPS (assembly language)? I have an assignment that relates with C and MIPS

what is your rate? thanks

I never responded to this one.

Hi there ,

I’m taking an intensive intro to computer science this semester (mostly Java) . It’s a grad level course , I work full time so I need extra help in acing this course. Please let me know where you are located and what’s your hourly rate.

Thanks,

This started off innocently, but as I got into the details with him, what he really wanted was someone to sit with him, watch him complete his online assignments, and ensure that the submitted answers would be correct. I politely maintained that my policy revolves around actually learning the material and that he would have to work on assignments on his own time. I never heard back from him again and I was happy that he was gone.

Hi i need to do an econometrics assignment.. will you be able to do this by monday? how much?

He also pasted the entire assignment into the email. I didn’t respond.

Math Misery?

"Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I assure you, mine are still greater." -Albert Einstein

Category Archives: Thoughts

Academic Honesty

As of December 16, 2014

As of December 7, 2014