Richard Feynman on how teachers can make physics a “horrible subject”

1 points by tazedsoul ↗ HN
There’s an old interview that’s well-circulated at this point in which Richard Feynman answers various questions about physics. I think it’s worth sharing a nugget of gold from that interview, which until today I somehow had personally missed and suspect others haven’t heard before. It’s a statement about how studying physics is ruined by the school approach of a teacher asking students to answer questions about it.

On physics, Feynman said:

"I don't want to take this stuff seriously. I think we should just have fun imagining it and not worry, like there's no teacher that's gonna ask you questions at the end -- otherwise, it's a horrible subject."

This is said at about 7:01 in the following video:

https://youtu.be/P1ww1IXRfTA

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

Personally, I deeply enjoy studying physics on my own, but while majoring in it, I often found that I didn't enjoy my coursework nearly as much as I had hoped. So, this statement from Feynman resonates with me.

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