Letter to the Editor: I Miss Learning From Crash Course Videos
Dear The Mugdown,
I know I am supposed to be qualified to do this senior design project, but I’m not really sure what it’s about. I get decent grades. I listen in class… usually. But am I really qualified to be making an “Automated Cooling Control System”? Isn’t that just air conditioning? At least I didn’t get stuck with some chemistry-heavy project like my buddy Chris. I barely remember half of what I learned before junior year, let alone freshman chemistry.
My group met with our sponsor, and they kept spitting out all these “industry terms” that they assumed we knew. I can’t be the only one who had no clue what was happening, right? Maybe if I had taken the air conditioning elective, this would make more sense right now.
I tried to look up some of this stuff, but there isn’t anything other than scholarly journals, a rogue LinkedIn post, and a wordless animated video from some manufacturing company in Illinois. Should I connect with that one guy on LinkedIn? At this point, I am starting to question if I actually know anything about mechanical engineering. Things used to be so simple. Freshman year, I could just watch a 20 minute Khan Academy video and boom, I’m an expert. High school? After an 8-minute Crash Course video by John Green’s weird brother, I was set.
I fantasize about the day I will see a digestible explanation of viscoelastic materials with perfectly animated visuals and sarcastic commentary. Till then, I will be here, faking my way to graduation.
Sincerely,
Clueless but Qualified
— The Dixie Wiccan
This writer can be a real witch sometimes. No, really — she’s a card-carrying Wiccan who can’t wait to remind you that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday. Once a timid freshman evangelical, Dixie Wiccan found her new faith in (where else?) the women’s bathroom of the Dixie Chicken, proving once again that hitting up Northgate is akin to a spiritual experience.