Is Physics Difficult?
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Is Physics Difficult?* Kenneth W. Ford First, a fable: Dean Hugh Manatee of West Nonesuch State has been concerned because his English Department is attracting so few majors. The Chair of the department responds to the Dean. To: Dean Mantee From: Shirley Worde-Smith Subject: The English Major The English Department would be pleased if more students capable of succeeding in English chose to major in this subject but, as you know, English is quite difficult. Only a small percentage of students exhibits aptitude for writing—the expérimental part of our discipline—and talent in literary theory is even rarer. However, we had 5 English majors among last year's graduating class of 1,043. This is well above the national norm of 3 per 1,000. We are fortunate in being able to attract excellent students to our demanding program. Studies by the American Institute of English show that the supply and demand for professional writers and literary critics are now in balance in this country. It is not clear how our graduâtes would find meaningful professional employrrîent if their numbers were to grow significantly. We do feel that our graduâtes in English hâve a very strong training, which is borne out by the fact that most of them readily find employment or gain admission to excellent graduate schools. As to our service obligations, we are anxious to do our part to meet the wider needs of the University and its students. It is for this reason that we recently introduced an "English for Poets" course to allow a broader range of students to gain an appréciation of what research and creative effort in English are ail about. The student response has been gratifying. So much so, that we are considering the addition next year of another terminal course, "English and Society." Let me next address the nature of English teaching. Through regular lecture démonstrations, we expose students di-
*Originally published in October 1989 issue of American Journal of Physics. Reprinted with per-
mission.
MRS BULLETIN/DECEMBER1989
rectly to good writing and criticism. And in the English laboratory, students gain hands-on expérience in actual writing. Thèse features of the discipline mean that teaching English is intrinsically labor intensive. A program of the excellence of ours cannot be maintained if professors are expected to meet teaching-load requirements typical of other departments. If the English department lowered its standards irt order to attract more majors, we would seriously erode the quality of our program, faculty research would be adversely affected, and we would be turning out graduâtes of doubtful skill whose prospects of employment as practitioners of English would be in question. We would not be serving the national interest or the interest of Nonesuch. The dean's response is not preserved.
If it means that most students who study physics find it difficult, I agrée. an Feldman, who teaches physics at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, recently wrote, in an article on his school's physics program: "Physics is not easy,
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