u/Noetic_Acorn

While there are objective benefits to pen and paper, this initiative is just performative and is actually quite regressive for a world class institution.

Most of the people now entering law school have been conditioned over the course of their life to use laptops for high density note taking, and you can't just magically revert back to pen and paper over the course of a summer.

I guarantee you that this rollout won't change the amount of content that is taught in these classes, which is extremely relevant given that pen and paper is objectively slower at recording information than typing. This is largely why typing was standardized in the workplace way back when, and how people would be paid liveable salaries for their ability to type quickly.

The fact that me, some random nobody at this university, was able to think of the limitations involved in this, yet the article doesn't comment on this tells me everything I need to know about how this will go.

Last year saw the removal of paper towels in washrooms until the public disdain brought them back, and now this seems to be the new gimmick of the year that will likely involve some five page document emailed to students and faculty along with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

If this spreads to other programs, especially at the undergraduate level, people are going to lose it, and they'll be completely justified.

How about instead of reinventing the wheel you put some money and attention to solving things that are actually a problem? I could name at least 10 things right now.

That getting into the courses that inform a person's higher education journey feels almost identical to buying concert tickets through Ticket Master is a level of absurdity that would have sent 20th century French philosophers into a euphoric frenzy.

The cherry on top of the sundae is that the page will move as courses fill up, which turns the whole process into this weird point and click game.

Also, that waitlisted courses count towards your course total is ridiculous in a way that I can't even describe.

This is especially stupid in your first year, because you're competing in the arena for prerequisite courses to actually get into your program, all before the Christmas cull that this university exists upon.

As far as I'm aware, the faculties of engineering and Rotman's Commerce are the only programs that don't require this to a big extent, since you apply to a specific program from the start, rather than having to go through all the POSt nonsense.

To the people who designed this system and keep it alive: you aren't well in the head and you need to seek help. You're why so many people enter this university as fairly happy individuals and leave emotionally devastated.

I've been trying to get a clear answer on this for weeks and it's driving me crazy.

I know that MAT137 has essentially been broken up and restructured into two courses, but are the course codes for this new two part introductory math experience MAT148 and MAT149, or is this more advanced than MAT137 but not as difficult at MAT157?

Can someone please clarify this in simple, human language without all the administrative UofT bloat?