S05.E07: An Introduction to Engineering and a Glob of Hair Gel

[SusanM]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

There is a massive power imbalance between teacher and student and being slightly older doesn't change anything. 

They even make this point in this episode when the professor dismisses President Hagemeyer's attempt to intervene with "I'm tenured".

[Yeah No]

37 minutes ago, SusannahM said:

They even make this point in this episode when the professor dismisses President Hagemeyer's attempt to intervene with "I'm tenured".

Yup and the teacher's motives became clear when he went to her at the very end of the episode to snicker at Sheldon behind his back at his reactions upon being "put n his place".  Having been bullied by teachers when I was in the single digits for no good reason (yes it happens) I am very sensitive to this kind of thing.  The teachers should be mature enough to chalk up the child's behavior to their immaturity and not descend to the level of "getting their goat" or whatever they're doing.

P.S.  I'm sure the fact that the prof. in my case was there forever and had tenure, plus was a Jesuit had a lot to do with the dean's unwillingness to make him give me an incomplete so I had little recourse but to involve my parents.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Yeah No

[Crs97]

On 11/19/2021 at 10:18 PM, ChitChat said:

Sheldon was pretty pompous in thinking that he could finish that assignment so quickly.  I know that he's still a young boy, but intellectually he's advanced for his age, and sometimes needs to be taken down a notch or two.  

But didn’t the professor end up reinforcing the points that (1) Sheldon should never ask for help because he will eventually figure it out by himself, and (2) arbitrary rules with no room for compromise are the ways to succeed?

[shapeshifter]

39 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

But didn’t the professor end up reinforcing the points that (1) Sheldon should never ask for help because he will eventually figure it out by himself, and (2) arbitrary rules with no room for compromise are the ways to succeed?

Good point that Professor Boucher at least reinforced if not instilled in Sheldon that "arbitrary rules with no room for compromise are the ways to" [power].  

This episode with its guest voice-over dialog was supposed to explain why adult Sheldon has no respect for engineers, but instead we see why Sheldon fears engineers.
Right?
Or...?

[SusanM]

My husband is an engineer and what puzzled him about this episode was why would a freshman in university be taking an introduction to engineering course in the first place.  Maybe it varies from institution to institution of course but the university he went to the only students enrolled in engineering courses were students in the engineering program.

Edited November 22, 2021 by SusannahM

[kwnyc]

"Everyone knows breasts are called headlights!" We laughed out loud at that one.

And now we know why Sheldon hates engineering AND geology.

It also occurred to me that old Sheldon mocks his colleagues who went to schools that are considered better than a state university in Texas (Howard went to MIT, Leonard went to Princeton, and Raj went to Cambridge.) 

Rice (Houston) would have been a more prestige degree, but at least as it's portrayed on the show, Houston is not commutable from Medford!

[NoReally]

21 hours ago, SusannahM said:

My husband is an engineer and what puzzled him about this episode was why would a freshman in university be taking an introduction to engineering course in the first place. 

Exactly what I was wondering. There wouldn't seem to be any reason for a Physics prodigy to be taking intro to engineering. (Unless he took it as an elective; and why would he?)

I also can't imagine that the first assignment in Engineering 101 would be, "Go design a bridge."

[Tom Holmberg]

22 hours ago, kwnyc said:

It also occurred to me that old Sheldon mocks his colleagues who went to schools that are considered better than a state university in Texas (Howard went to MIT, Leonard went to Princeton, and Raj went to Cambridge.)

I raised that point a while back.  In the real world one of them would have brought this up when Sheldon made fun of them.

[SnapHappy]

Did Sheldon actually graduate from the school in Texas?  I thought he transferred to California before he got his first degree.  

[Crs97]

Didn’t he graduate when he was 12 and only got there because his mom wouldn’t let him go farther?  Then he ended up with graduates degrees from all over?  They would look ridiculous trying to make fun of that.

[SusanM]

11 minutes ago, SnapHappy said:

Did Sheldon actually graduate from the school in Texas?  I thought he transferred to California before he got his first degree.  

No, I don't know where he got all his degrees but the one from Caltech was a Phd.

[shapeshifter]

On 11/22/2021 at 1:54 PM, SusannahM said:

My husband is an engineer and what puzzled him about this episode was why would a freshman in university be taking an introduction to engineering course in the first place.  Maybe it varies from institution to institution of course but the university he went to the only students enrolled in engineering courses were students in the engineering program.

Both my oldest daughter and I went to college on unexpected, last-minute scholarships that resulted in us enrolling in classes (and, for me, even a major) that we would otherwise have not taken just because they were what was still available, and that's what the advisor advised.
👆This serves as a fanwank, but I doubt the writers gave it much thought beyond being tasked to write 10 minutes of dialog that included a guest voiceover from Howard/Simon Helberg and dealt with Sheldon's disdain for engineers.

[proserpina65]

On 11/18/2021 at 11:16 PM, chocolatine said:

I think he started hating engineering because it was the first academic subject in which he didn't excel.

Exactly.  He wasn't the best ever at it, so he hates it.

On 11/19/2021 at 12:25 AM, Crs97 said:

We know he grew up to be pretty insufferable, and now we know why.

Because he was pretty insufferable as a child and no one ever called him on it until it was too late, that's why.  I love that Professor Boucher refused to give in to both his whining and the president's "we have to coddle Sheldon" attitude.

[Tom Holmberg]

23 hours ago, SusannahM said:

No, I don't know where he got all his degrees but the one from Caltech was a Phd.

He's mention Heidelberg Univ. as one of the places he went. As mentioned in the previous thread where his education was discussed, generally MIT edges out Caltech in the prestige dept., but they're both top-notch schools.

On 11/23/2021 at 1:30 PM, Crs97 said:

Didn’t he graduate when he was 12 and only got there because his mom wouldn’t let him go farther?  Then he ended up with graduates degrees from all over?  They would look ridiculous trying to make fun of that.

No more ridiculous than making fun of Cambridge or MIT.

[Crs97]

29 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

No more ridiculous than making fun of Cambridge or MIT.

He has always looked stupid when he criticizes their schools.  If they retaliated by making fun of him graduating before puberty, then they would be the ones looking stupid IMO.

[Tom Holmberg]

2 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

He has always looked stupid when he criticizes their schools.  If they retaliated by making fun of him graduating before puberty, then they would be the ones looking stupid IMO.

I agree, but the show sort of revolves around the characters looking ridiculous. 🤓

[SusanM]

I remember Sheldon mocking MIT and Princeton but I don't recall him knocking Cambridge or Harvard.  I always figured his  issue with MIT and Princeton was that they were where Howard and Leonard went.  

[Tom Holmberg]

10 minutes ago, SusannahM said:

I remember Sheldon mocking MIT and Princeton but I don't recall him knocking Cambridge or Harvard.  I always figured his  issue with MIT and Princeton was that they were where Howard and Leonard went.  

He did say, "You may have gone to Cambridge, but I'm an honorary graduate of Starfleet Academy."

[Bort]

9 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

He's mention Heidelberg Univ. as one of the places he went.

Visiting professor. 

[PWHCHCH]

I was convinced that the issue was, Sheldon was only submitting a theoretical bridge design rather than doing the more practical application of building a scale model and that would explain why the Professor was ripping up the plan without so much as a second glance. The wind factor made no sense as there was no way the Professor could tell if he wasn’t even taking a look. 

[Mrs. Landingham]

Well, at least there was no Brenda Sparks in this episode.

[chediavolo]

The teacher was a shit, though the actor was great.  Has Reba been to the plastic surgeon? 😳

[John Potts]

I'm on the Professor's side here (mostly): he set an assignment, told Sheldon it was inadequate and didn't back down. Could he have done it more reasonably? Sure - but he was as intolerant as Sheldon is (even at age 13) and stuck to his guns. If more people did that, Sheldon might learn he isn't always right.

I usually like the June/Meemaw relationship, but I thought Meemaw was completely in the wrong (and Dale was in the right, amazingly!) when it came to helping June out