MIT awards pirate certificates to undergraduates | Hacker News Reader

MIT awards pirate certificates to undergraduates

articles.boston.com

79 pointsjamesbritt48 comments

This article is about my best friend. He told me the backstory a couple nights ago:

He gets a random email asking if he's available to talk to the Globe about his pirate license. "Sure, why not?" So he gets on the phone with a reporter who asks him about his interest in piracy, and that's when he mentions that he used to dress up for Talk Like a Pirate Day in high school. "Do you have any photos of you dressed as a pirate?" "No..."

So a couple hours later he gets an email asking if the Globe can take photos of him dressed as a pirate. And when he suggests they do it at the MIT Sailing Pavilion, they ask around and find a photographer who somehow knows the guy who runs the pavilion. So they meet up, and in some down time the manager tells Jacob: "You know, he's a pretty awesome photographer. Everything he does ends up on the front page."

And it did.

edit: I forgot the best part of the story (for me). I was eating lunch with his former roommate when he walks right past us. We both text him. So he comes back and talks to us for a while, then mentions offhand "So I need to go take photos with a reporter for the Globe. By the way, can I borrow your socks?" The next time he passed by he was in full pirate costume.

Link to photo?

Photos: http://bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/03/03/mit-awards-pirate-cer...

Video: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/video/?bctid=1465014301001...

During my last semester at MIT, I really wanted to take the sailing class. It always fills up pretty fast, and I was late registering. Clearly, my only option for getting into the class was to show my passion for sailing by coming dressed as a pirate.

I showed up to the sailing Pavilion all decked out, and the people who didn't think I was weird (which was relatively few as folks are used to strange stuff on the MIT campus), seemed to like it.

We weren't allowed to sail the first day, but the instructor did a presentation entire the whole class (30ish students). He asked the class for a sole volunteer to crew for him. Being excited to get out on ye olde charles milky-greens, I hastily shot my hand up. After a moment of contemplation, the instructor somewhat reluctantly said "yeah, we'll take the pirate".

Since he and I were now alone in the dinghy, I drew my [plastic] cutlass and started whacking him in an attempt to commander the vessel. That didn't work, so I gave up. On the way back, there was a lull as the wind died down. We were just sitting there with the entire class watching and I was bored/thirsty, so I took out my flask and took a swig. He gave me a strange look, which I thought meant he wanted some. So I offered him some, which he kindly yet strangely declined.

Needless to say, I learned to sail that semester!

Here are some pics:

In lab after the events, finishing my flask: http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/25837_577030723648_...

Being a software pirate: http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/25837_577030868358_...

Anyone else think that making it official makes it less fun? I guess if you were a student there now it would be cool that it got made official, but in future it will be just another official piece of paper, rather than something people do or say because they decided to.

Maybe I'm just a killjoy...

EDIT: I see the article has a page two, where it details how they involved the students in the whole thing. Note to self: resist the urge to skim read articles, even if they are about students dressing up as pirates.

I've never fully understood why a college would have a class that was wanted so badly it was nearly impossible to sign up for, but not just have more classes of it. It seems awful silly.

I could understand if it was a certain professor that was wanted, and not a subject.

Four years of signing up for pistols, never once got in (I signed up fairly early too. Guess I shoulda automated it). This new degree will now make it even harder to get in! Maybe as a result they will look into expanding the class.

budgets?

Well, obviously, but I believe what he's getting at is: if so many students want to take a course, why aren't they allocating more resources toward that course to support demand?

This is all speculation.

Possibly because they treat it as an extra curriculum activity

And as such:

a) Perhaps the lecturers teach in their spare time because they enjoy the activity.

b) It's a fairly specific skill set that would mean hiring new resources for an extra curricular activity that means diverting resources from your primary operation (teaching) which you don't want to do.

I'm not really surprised that the availability is still pretty low. Regular lecture-oriented courses don't have to deal with requirements like "there is only one room on campus where this course can meet," but this becomes a problem _very_ quickly for pistol, archery, etc. I've never seen MIT's range (didn't even know there was a range in Cambridge until now), but I'd guess it can't handle too many students at once. On top of all that, I'm not sure how easy it is to find instructors for hire in the Boston area (it looks like they have one instructor teaching all sections of pistol and rifle).

Lack of land to have multiple classes of the same kind at once... That I can understand, too.

Sadly, I can no longer cite some of the ridiculous ones from my college years that merely required any classroom.

Adding to the (very long) list of reasons I wish I had considered engineering much earlier in life (or rather, known what AP exams were– small towns, pffft).

When they finally meet the ninjas from Harvard, the battle will be epic indeed.

Yale students - not enough coffee, or actual zombies?

Rats. I don't think there was archery back in my day. I did pistol, sailing, and 2 sessions of fencing. At least I didn't have to sign up at 8 am.

Similar boat (heh) here. I did archery, sailing, and pistol. Ah well.

When will this certificate be available on MITx?

Maybe one day in the future, we'll award terrorist certificates to college students who take classes in chemistry, religion and aviation engineering.

I am split. On one hand it is pretty cool that the recognize it.

On the other hand the entire forced 'physical education' just screams revenge of the jocks over the nerds. At least at MIT it should be the other way.

No, physical activity is really important. College is (in part) about developing intellectual habits, and exercise is very important if you want to have focus and energy in the other things you do. I think MIT is making a statement that we shouldn't let smart people turn into the "nerd" stereotype. MIT is doing a good job by telling the world that "you can be smart, healthy, and fit too."

It's not a "revenge of the jocks" -- getting a "pirate certificate" is still kinda "nerdy," but it encourages students to be active.

I repeat: You do not need to be physically unfit to be smart, and fitness will often make you more productive!

Or, alternatively and less generously, smart people don't exercise unless forced to.

seriously?

I know that's the stereotype, but...

And? Even not-so-smart people don't exercise.

And I'd assume that a smart student has more challenging work and higher expectations for their own academic performance, which causes them to lose sight of the benefits of exercise. In other words, a smart person will often prioritize intellectual endeavors above exercise, which is acceptable (that's much better than prioritizing TV or video games above exercise!), but I truly appreciate MIT making a statement about the importance of physical activity. It's a personal choice what you want to prioritize, but I appreciate that MIT as an institution wants to prioritize the health of its students in conjunction with academic excellence.

It's a way of saying, "If you want to be an MIT student, you should also have healthy habits."

> I repeat: You do not need to be physically unfit to be smart, and fitness will often make you more productive!

While this is true, it's probably worth noting that you don't need to be fit to be smart or productive either. I really think the old stereotype is still the driving force behind the "get nerds to exercise" movement. Maybe my sample size just hasn't been large enough, but I don't see massive unfitness in the nerd-sphere on the same scale that I see massive unfitness in the general-populace-sphere. My conservative perspective is that the ratios are about the same rather than nerds being more fit in general, and that unfitness is decently location-dependent, but if someone has collected the data I'd like to see it.

It doesn't matter what the ratio is. There is a simple fact: if you get smart people to be healthy, they will be alive longer, and even if they don't get any productivity boost, they will still be productive for longer.

That applies to everyone, sure. But MIT is doing what is best for their students, and I support that decision. MIT is a powerful institution, and it has the ability to influence the lives of some of the smartest students in the world. It'd be awesome if we can keep them healthy and fit so they can be smarter for longer. Even if the smart kids are just as fit as any other kids, that doesn't mean we should accept the average as the standard and move on.

This assumes that mandatory PE increases their likelihood of being fit in the future. If the students resent it, then it might be a net negative to their future fitness. Or it might just have no effect whatsoever.

John Walker, Autodesk's founder and writer of the book "Hacker's Diet", has this to say about exercise for hackers:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/subsection1_2_5_0_1.htm...

"the case against exercising seemed straightforward and overwhelmingly persuasive.

    Exercising consumed time.
    Exercising was not programming.
    Therefore, by exercising, less time was available for programming.

I'm a hacker--I like to program! Substitute your own favourite activity for programming and you'll see what I mean. In addition, exercise carried all the unpleasant connotations of high school calisthenics, or the equivalent indignity of more modern, yet equally regimented, forms of workouts.

But is there a flaw in this argument after all? Indeed there is. The premises are correct, but the conclusion doesn't account for the fact that regular exercise will, in all likelihood, allow you to live longer. Let's look at the numbers.

So, if you're 40 years old, and you exercise 15 minutes a day from now until you turn 65, you'll have spent a total of about a quarter of a year exercising in those 25 years.

But, if by exercising you manage to live 3 years longer, you're ahead by a total of two and three quarters years by age 65--1000 days. Your increased life span works out to an additional 172 minutes per day from age 40 through 65. Even after spending 15 minutes exercising, the life extension you can expect from getting into shape gives you what amounts to two and half more hours per day to do whatever you enjoy most! Even if you live only one additional year through physical fitness, you'll still end up with 270 more days by exercising.

Of course, we're talking percentages here; you could be run over by a truck tomorrow. But hey, if you're in shape you may dodge that truck! "

Loved the last sentence, I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm exercising. "I'm getting ready to dodge a truck"

I recommend the falling training of martial arts. It has actually saved my neck once during biking. I could have died, and I didn't. It's quite motivating to not stop training.

In addition to the comments regarding exercise causing an increase in the length of one's life, don't forget about the dramatic increase in the quality of life due to exercise. If you feel better you'll be more productive.

i never sensed P.E. class resentment from fellow MIT students during the time i was there. it's a light requirement, and people often chose activities that they would like to learn for fun (e.g., sailing, archery, badminton). no memories of middle school style locker stuffing or wedgies.

The physical education requirement was pretty fun. I mean, if you can take 'pistol' to satisfy it, how much can you really complain.

On the other hand, I didn't understand why we had to pass a swim test.

In case you ever fall into deep water?

When I interviewed for Columbia University, the guy told me one of the more farfetched theories was that it was required in case students had to evacuate the island and swim to New Jersey. Georgia Tech used to (still?) have a swim test... I wonder where they're going...

No swim test, just a mandatory health and nutrition class.

I use it to find out what the popular websites are for freshmen who don't want to pay attention to lectures. Turns out people who won't stop talking in class really like 9gag.

As I recall the story, it's because some large donor many years ago demanded it as a condition of a donation. (And of course so that students don't die if they fall in the Charles.)

The story I heard continued on to say that the donor's husband had died on the Titanic when it sank, and hance her concern.

EDIT: And incidentally, I got 2 of the 4, and Kendo really ought to count as well.

It's a pirate certificate, though, not a ninja certificate...

Yeah, but I feel like I've heard the same story every university that has the requirement - their spouse/child/dog died in the river, so they donated money with that condition.

Either it is all urban legend, or rich people need to learn to swim/stay away from water.

My university in Michigan used to have a swim test as mandatory admission. The college is build on a river known for a notable handful of students and children drowning. To get into the school you used to have to pass a swim test because "you're living in Michigan which is surrounded by and filled with water".

Not sure why they dropped it.

Columbia does too, and I believe Harvard does as well.

(Interestingly, Columbia College has to take it, but the engineering school abolished the requirement about a decade ago. Most people incorrectly believe it's because 'engineers can build things; they don't need to swim', but the truth is that there was a miscommunication, and the engineering school removed the requirement because they thought that Columbia College already had.).

Don't make the mistake of conflating physical activity with a particular culture centered around sports in schools.

i had a ton of fun during a few of my MIT P.E. classes and ended up incidentally meeting at least one guy whom i became good friends with later in life (when people ask where we met, "P.E. class" is an unexpected answer).

there might be some value in "forced" non-academic activities, as long as people don't take it too seriously. iirc the P.E. teachers were often grad students who loved their sport, not jaded old fogies from middle school nightmares.

Do you think It's a bad thing to learn how to be physically healthy? There have been plenty of studies that show a direct correlation between being active and increased brain function.

I don't think it is a bad thing, but it shouldn't be forced and it shouldn't be seen as more morally correct.

The perception that someone is "forcing" "nerds" to exercise is superficial and reinforces incorrect nerd/jock stereotypes. Perhaps you didn't mean this in a serious way, but in my experience some people still think that MIT is all stereotypical nerds. It isn't at all.

People get up early in the morning on signup day in order to be the first to sign up for phys. ed. classes.

In addition to that, until they cut 8 varsity teams a few years ago, MIT had the most varsity sports teams in the country (tied with Harvard, I think). There are also tons of intramural sports happening throughout the year.

Everyone at MIT is a nerd to some extent, but by far not everyone is a "stereotypical nerd" (whatever that means). People are very diverse here and you'll find all kinds of stereotypes (if you are so inclined), even "jocks."

Jealous..

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