Your Mileage May Vary

Bilal Akhtar
Jul 21, 2017 · 2 min read

I just came across this post on UWaterloo’s subreddit. And while it’s a glaring example, this is not the first time I’ve seen that attitude perpetuated.

Do you find something easy that many others find challenging? Cool — maybe you’ve discovered your strength. Just don’t generalize that to “everyone should find this easy because it is”.

Putting it another way: Are you going to feel good about asking for help in something that’s deemed “easy” by everyone? It’s only going to prevent you from improving your skillset.

That easy bar though

There’s one SE/ECE course at UWaterloo in particular that I regularly warn lower years about — ECE 124. About 1 of every 6 people in my class failed it when we took it back in first year. I hear the offering this winter was just as bad too. And yet, this isn’t a shortage of people deeming it easy.

There’s also Math 135, a popular first-year course that many (myself included) find challenging. Maybe you’re a math geek who can write proofs in your sleep — in which case, that’s amazing — and there’s an entire course (Math 145) for people like you. But the majority isn’t like that. It’s why that course has so many tutoring resources dedicated to it year-round. And it’s totally normal to use them.

If a course/accomplishment gets an “easy” rep, and people shy away from asking their friends/TAs for help, it’s only going to worsen outcomes.

I’ve also heard a couple instances of people shaming others for asking “simple” questions — instead giving an implicit “lol maybe you suck and don’t belong here” response. Among people I know. I bet it happens quite often.

Consider the usual first-year programming course. If you’ve done programming before, it’s probably a bird course for you. But the whole point of the course is to get everyone to the same level — even if you started off with no experience. Even in my you-should-probably-have-programming-experience-already program (SE), a sizable chunk of the class starts off with none — and that’s totally fine. Just don’t seize the opportunity to ridicule them for their “simple” questions.

Also, don’t build a culture that takes pride in skipping classes or ignoring that “easy” course/skill in other ways.

In short, it’s okay to ask for help on “easy” things. But maybe we should also stop deeming things as easy in the first place, because they often aren’t.

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