Longest Physics Lecture in History? 262
gfrege writes "Perhaps you remember some long physics lectures from your days at school. But as part of a general strike of students at the Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin concerning cuts in funding for the city's universities, some physicists are in the middle of what could be the longest physics lecture in history. It started at noon on Monday, and is planned to run to noon on Thursday. Check out the topics, and if you're in Berlin, come on down. The Babelfish translations of the lecture titles make for some fun reading, too, if you can't make it there yourself."
Re:students on strike??? (Score:5, Informative)
Also, since a student strike does not hurt as much as a worker strike, the students have to revert to more spectacular means. The one described in this article is one of them. Another media effective action was the demonstration at IKEA last week where many students occupied the beds there and "applied" for educational asylum in Sweden.
You could say it is a kind of demonstration, but a very specific one.
BTW: I am not a student, but work as assistant at a German university, so I am familiar with the current situation and the student protests.
Sebastian
Background (Score:5, Informative)
1.) Here in Germany, higher education comes mostly for free, including attending University. This is paid for by state taxes, mostly.
2.) There is a huge financial crunch in local communities and the states (Laender), of which Berlin is one, due to prolonged blissful ignorance of reality (tax revenue down) in crazy public spending. Berlin is one of the worst candidates with huge debt, kind of like CA in the US, even suing federal gvt. to bail them out and unfortunately winning.
3.) Berlin has three full universities plus N colleges and such, sucking up money.
4.) what's an avg. politician to do? Slash university funding big style, amongst other things, potentially closing one of them down for good
5.) what's a university student to do? go on strike (IMO not very creative either, but I digress....) and generally raise awareness that higher education is worth its money.
6.) what's a prof to do? help students out (after all they're in the same boat), by e.g. holding a 3 day continuous physics lecture in the middle of Berlin, for everybody to attend.
That's why they're doing it. If you or I agree with it, is another question...
Similar events in Hong Kong (Score:2, Informative)
We are getting round to step 4 and 5 recently, too bad our professors are probably not creative enough to try step 6.
Should it be tied to ability to pay, or ability? (Score:5, Informative)
There is also something wrong with the idea that if someone comes out the right vagiana then they everything for free, while others have to struggle for the same oppertunity. Isn't education something everyone has a right to? It is the only thing I can think of which by itself can take a person and improve their quality of life, their job, the amount of money they make, and their happiness.
Re:Oh YES THEY ARE... (Score:1, Informative)
I can speak only for my own state, California, where we're so busy giving free college educations to illegal aliens, we don't have anything left for the citizens.
Re:I don't get it. (Score:4, Informative)
You might get some more information on indymedia germany (http://de.indymedia.org), but until now the whole movement is not too much related to social movements in general, more about academics getting a bad future like everyone else does.
Re:Student strikes in Australia (Score:5, Informative)
In Western Australia, for example, university student's can not be forced to join a union. They actually have freedom of association and aren't forced to pay large amounts of money to an organisation they do not support.
They also have *better* student services, but simple economics would tell you that would be the case.
A: It was D. R. Hofstadter (Score:4, Informative)
"The proverbial German phenomenon of the "verb-at-the-end", about which droll tales of absent-minded professors who would begin a sentence, ramble on for an entire lecture, and then finish up by rattling off a string of verbs by which their audience, for whom the stack had long since lost its coherance, would be totally nonplussed, are told, is an excellent example of linguistic pushing and popping. The confusion among the audience that out-of-order popping from from the stack onto which the professor's verbs had been pushed, is amusing to imagine, could engender."
Spain (Score:1, Informative)
But this has a close relationship with the breadth and depth of studies here and in the US. I got my bachelors (Computer Science) in Spain, with one year in the University of California, and I realized the huge difference between what you learn in the two systems.
On average, a Spanish student takes 6 courses each semester, during 5 years minimum, which makes around 300 units (one unit=ten hours of class) to finish, while at least in U. California, the average is 12 units per quarter, which makes 12*3*4years=144 units.
You could argue that the homework workload is lower in Europe, but my personal experience is that in the US this is much lower. That's why I had so much fun when I came. That's why now I'm a graduate student at UCI :).
Re:Q: for native German speakers or physics geeks (Score:2, Informative)
My guess is that the story is simply an urban legend, concocted by some frustrated student of german.
German is nominally SVO, but in subordinate clauses, and after certain conjunctions, it because SOV. So for example, ich habe den Mann gesehen means 'I have the man seen', which is a typical past tense construction in German. Now, if you make it a subordinate clause, watch what happens: ich denke dass ich den Mann gesehen habe. (I think that I the man seen have).
As sentences get more complex, you can end up with a funny stacking of verbs at the end of the sentence. However, nothing like what you described could happen, at least not that I'm aware.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Re:Mistaken... (Score:5, Informative)
Not everybody can get a higher education - you have to earn it first by, you guessed it, getting good grades. This is called the "Hochschulreife". Without it, you are not eligible to even apply to a University. There's ALSO this thing called "Numerus Clausus", which basically says "only people with these grades or better get even LOOKED at" for degrees with a limited capacity. And furthermore, if you don't spend effort to study, you'll get kicked out - if you don't manage to pass the exams in the given time-limit (if there is one) or flunk twice, you'll lose your right to ever take another exam in that discipline again. Forever. For every University in Germany. This means, that if I manage to flunk twice in Mathematics, I'm not allowed to study anything where Mathematics is a part of the degree (Engineering, Computer Science,
There's also no studying forever: you get one and a half times the specified time of study for that particular degree (in BW at least). After that you'll have to pay tuition fees. But this is different from state to state.
Who told you that bullshit anyway? Take it from someone who actually studies in Germany...
Re:Mistaken...Not quite (Score:3, Informative)
Not quite, if I were to study mathematics and were to flunk a course, I could still study economics or business even though these include courses in algebra, finance mathematics and statistics. So, while it may apply to engineering or computer science, it wouldn't apply to other courses containing math lectures. And yes, flunking one single part of a degree program twice (sometimes thrice) means that you can't study this program in Germany anymore.
Furthermore, the "Hochschulreife" you mention, usually acquired through the Abitur (or High School Diploma in US, Baccaleaureat in France, but don't hit me for spelling), is not the only way to get higher education in Germany. There are three ways I can think of to get it:
1. Abitur, which means that you could study at every public and private University, Fachhochschule (University for Applied Sciences, Polytechs) and Berufsakademie (professional academy) provided that you meet the entry requirements (NC, special tests, portfolio evidence for arts and architecture).
2. Without Abitur, you can still qualify through apprenticeships and further education in a specific field that would let you study at some Fachhochschulen and Berufsakademien.
3. Obtain a first degree at a foreign university and continue in Germany.
Your degree will state where you got it:
Dipl. Ing. - University
Dipl. Ing. (FH) - Fachhochschule
Dipl. Ing. (BA) - Berufsakademie
In my own experience, Fachhochschulen and Berufsakademien are usually not any worse than normal university education and are sometimes better regarded by some. E.g. the reputation of the TFH Berlin is much better than the other Berlin universities in architecture.
Nevertheless, the point SerpentMage was making was flawed on a number of issues:
Higher education in Germany is not free, we pay for it through the tax system. Berufsakademien and private universities charge you.
Nowhere does it say that you MUST study. Though this might be a socially induced phenomenon.