Do You Think Professors Are Good Humoured

Why is UNBC good?

“Good”? Well, it’s good that all buildings (except residences) connect to each other so you don’t have to go aside to get around during those painfully long winters. Otherwise, academically speaking, it’s mostly over-rated. The worst thing about it is the politically motivated administration and the narrow minded Board of Governors. Campus tries so hard to be politically correct that individuality or eccentricity is often suppressed, along with academic freedom. The best thing about it is the core of highly motivated, good humoured faculty, but you have to seek them out.

In 2018, what do ordinary Americans think of Russian people?

I am from Russia and I believe there are Americans who aren't interested in foreign affairs at all striving to earn their daily bread.There are, to my belief, other ordinary people - those who form their opinions from what they hear and see on the media. These may be majority in every country and their opinions will follow those of media coverage, positive, negative, oversimplified or not.And there is a smaller group of people who have firsthand experience - in this case, of Russia and Russians. I have friends in the US whom I met in my home town in Russia in 1990ies and early 2000s as teachers (of English and ELT methodology, of American literature, of PC skills), some of the latter being college students at the time themselves. And I believe they think what they saw, however clumsy that may sound. If they had a warm welcome here, I believe few of them will have bad memories. I knew Americans who shared an apartment here for a short time. One was and is a very warm-hearted professor of literature accompanied by her good humoured husband as her eyesight was poor. Our friendship was excellent. When they had been on themselves, they perfectly managed all their travel and her work arrangements speaking virtually no Russian - in a country where English proficiency is far from universal. At the same time their American neighbour here, also a learned woman, had the same living conditions and type of work, but she was unhappy as she was unhappy with her life in general, it seems, though I met her only once, I think. Those Americans who came from small towns were impressed positively with the luxury of our imperial heritage museums on the one hand - and high cost of admission tickets to them negatively, especially for foreigners. But cheerful people were not terribly disappointed, as far as I could see.To sum up, one's impressions are the sum of expectations, openness, experience etc. And it makes sense to ask about impressions those who have firsthand experience, and not just media images.

Should I pursue a career in science, knowing that there are people who are better than me?

Ah, the good old imposter syndrome!The thing to keep in mind is that you’re not alone. Many scientists (including myself) go through feeling this way and still do. You’ll meet many intelligent and talented people, but that’s never to say that you’re not intelligent and talented.A career in science is a learning curve. It’s hard, yes, and you’ll meet people at varying stages. But as long as you’re comparing yourself with others you will never be happy - and this is true in other aspects of life as well. Try to focus instead on your immediate priorities, and take one step at a time. Before you know it, you’ll be teaching and training others who may be thinking the same about you!Also, think about what you can contribute to science. Science needs as many bright and talented people as it can get - and I have a feeling you’re such a person. :)

Why do people laugh when they don't understand something?

Hi Sara,Thanks for A2A. I read that laughter is a communication mechanism that developed well before speech. Our ancestors may have used laughter to disarm or deescalate potential hostile actions, and/or to display subservience to an alpha or pack leader, and/or to show affection to potential mates. Today many consciously use it in response to nonsense or humor, but that’s not all we use it for. Here is a bit of research that was conducted, which suggests to me that we may use it unconsciously more often than we think:“’Most laughter is not in response to jokes or humor,’ says Robert R. Provine, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Provine should know. He has conducted a number of studies of laughter and authored the book Laughter: a Scientific Investigation. One of his central arguments is that humor and laughter are not inseparable.Provine did a survey of laughter in the wild -- he and some graduate students listened in on average conversations in public places and made notes. And in a survey of 1,200 ‘laugh episodes,’ he found that only 10%-20% of laughs were generated by anything resembling a joke.The other 80%-90% of comments that received a laugh were dull non-witticisms like, ‘I'll see you guys later’ and ‘It was nice meeting you, too.’ So why the laughs?Provine argues it has to do with the evolutionary development of laughter. In humans, laughter predates speech by perhaps millions of years. Before our human ancestors could talk with each other, laughter was a simpler method of communication, he tells WebMD.” [1][1] Why We LaughUltimately, people may laugh at something they don’t understand because they may subconsciously feel that, if they don’t react to disarm the awkward situation, then the other person they are with may become hostile, or worse they may leave. Basically, it’s most likely the natural way our brain has evolved to respond to nonsense, or things one can not make sense of, which is to interpret it as humor.Something that may be more interesting is, how or why we respond to people who laugh with us, or at our jokes and witticisms, as opposed to how or why we respond to people who laugh at us, as when we are the butt of a joke.I hope that helps.Peace and good day.

Have you ever cried in a college class? I recently did and I am so embarrassed. I was going to drop the class, but decided to stay in. I have to give presentations in this class. How do I stop worrying about what the class and professor thinks of me?

Recently I saw a video where a lady spoke about spotlight syndrome. At times we behave as if the whole world thinks only about us. But that’s not so. You didn’t kill anybody… just cried….don’t worry…. The reason might be anything… it’s just fine dear… don’t think so much and punish urself… it’s ok… you just work on ur presentations. Don’t worry about what people think about you… cos their opinions will keep on changing… take care

Which university degrees are least employable in the UK?

Employability is affected by two distinct things:“Signalling”. If you get a decent degree (in any subject) from a respected university then employers can trust that you are smart & hardworking. It doesn’t matter what the subject is: History from UCL (*) or Aramaic from Cambridge - you’ll get a job.The course is irrelevant - it is the university qualitythat counts, (Oxbridge, Russell group)Vocational. Somewhat oddly, the intersection between course and university is quite complexSo automotive engineering will always be employable - but if that is from Coventry University is *VERY* employable. Possibly more even than “ engineering” from Cambridge. Retail is generally not a great bet - very few courses will get yuh a good job. BUT from Bournemouth it is a very good bet.STEM, numeric courses, Engineering from most places will good, but could be very good from the right place with the right course. Arts are less good from anywhere.So least employable?Those that are for whatever reason not respected . Perhaps unfair.(*unless* from a top tier place)Sociology might be a geneniuinely interestirig discipline and you might be an excellent student - but it has a bad reputation and employment will be hard.Unless (perhaps) from LSE.Sociology, media studies, gender studies, etc etcThose that are vocational for things that do not have many jobs: journalism, fashion, archaeology etcAgain, it varies a bit - Archeology from Oxford will be good but not as good as some other courses from thereLower tier universities.Even for courses that are in demand, the lower tier places will do worse(*) I mention UCL as I missed it of a liar in another question and got lots of grief. Good humoured I think but if I did it again they might turn to death threats ;)

Who are/were the best faculty members at Bansal Classes, Kota?

Definitely it has to be Ninja! On numerous occasions he used to introduce a topic by writing the central law on the board, giving a few minutes to think about it (socho!) and then asking the class to solve a problem from Irodov. And I never had to touch the topic again! He made us first prove theorems using the brute force technique and then provided results so that we could appreciate their elegance. I remember when I proved Newton's shell theorem using simple integration (a full hour got devoted to this :D), proving all results of center of mass, rotation, etc. explicitly using vectors and then proving some of them without using vectors but plain geometry as a challenge. Then there were days when he showed videos about cosmology, big bang, string theory, etc. which were not even remotely related to JEE. His were the most enjoyable classes I have experienced yet.