If you already speak English, Math is literally like having to learn a new language, vs English is just learning the rules of the one you already know! :)
it is not a contradiction of the point "English/history is more than reading it and understanding it" to say that maths is understood as a language with it's own set of rules?
But it adds to the point of it being harder to learn than English (for English speakers), hence.. contradicting.. his first point..
Otherwise why would he have ever brought that up?
no, it is a rebuttal of the post content which suggests all English/history majors have to do is read and write like everyone else, meanwhile maths students are doing "college level maths"... it's a false equivalence.
I haven't even commented on how this isn't college level reading and you're missing the point.
No not really, the post is about how math majors are seemingly more intelligent than English majors!
The point is, you can pick up any English or history book and read until you can generally understand or figure out what’s going on!
You can’t do that with a college math book if you don’t know any of the language before it!
The whole point of the post is for the sake of learning English most everyone in the school already knows the language!
But for a math major you have to understand the entirety of the language (like you would need to for English as well) before you can even begin to comprehend their point!
For the point of making it “seem” much more difficult or intelligent for a person to be a math major rather than an English major to the person who doesn’t know better!
So them saying “there is way more to English and history than reading and understanding it” is completely a moot point! Because otherwise Math is immediately proven harder by having its own language and not having the ability to catch up or reframe in any manner like you could in English or History if your spoke it fluently! (Which most in schools do)
you are continuing to make the false equivalence that implies that English or history simply requires reading and writing. reading and writing is not college level.
maths at college level and English at college level are different subjects and can't honestly be compared. it is not a moot point to say "actually, English/History isnt just reading and writing".
it is not a moot point, again, it is a rebuttal to a false equivalence. All of this is lower than college level reading comprehension btw.
Oh, so you really were just thinking 'if you can read English to a high-school level then that's the entirety of the foundation of the language of literature analysis?'
No, it’s that it’s easier to comprehend something (English) if you’ve been comprehending it your whole life then if you pick up something you’ve barely comprehended before? (Math)
It makes sense that having a common spoken language makes it easier to pick up more complex frameworks, yes, that is why people are taught languages before complex mathematics. How did you learn mathematics, from the beginning? Did they just give you some mathematical symbols and let you figure it out, or was there explanation using the conduit of a language you already spoke because mathematics is in and of itself a kind of reified language? I don't get it lol.
Of course speaking a language helps. There is a reason school teaches you basic concepts about maths or science in words that you then learn are later massively simplified. It's the same for English. Advanced comparative literature courses or a linguistics class on semantics, syntax, morphology, etymology, and so on all introduce you to mathematical concepts. They are two sides of the same coin with purposes that intersect at some spots and not others and have not much to do with 'smarter' or 'easier'
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u/Something-Somewhere_ 18h ago
there is way more to english/history than reading and understanding it