There is a distinct difference between the liberal and analytic arts; specifically between physics and English lit classes.
In physics, you attend a lecture twice a week for an hour and a half. There is the usual discussion of class business for the first few minutes. You watch the professor do a series of problems on the board, say about gravity for example. This is really just a formality though, because there is
no way you can do any of these problems yourself just by watching the Prof at the blackboard.
The real work - the heavy lifting - is in the problem sets. The homework sets take a looong time and require lots of flipping through the book. Eventually, you see similarities between the types of problems [ie, simple motion, energy, momentum; man-in-elevator, block-on-a-string]
If things go well, you do a slew of problems and are able to do similar ones on the final exam.
The real work is on your own time; just solving lots and lots of problems.
In English lit classes, you attend lecture twice a week along w/ an hour long recitation section. The professor begins class by writing a few things on the board, sometimes a quote from an author or lit critic. These are usually worth writing down. The lecture consists of, basically, aesthetic criticism - an
art in its own right - of the book currently being read.
If you have read the book before class, the lecture is engrossing b/c you remember things in the book and connect them in different ways. If you have not read for class, the lecture is still engaging because it makes you excited to read the book.
The heavy lifting for lit classes is doing all the reading, but its made easier (or possible) by the lectures. The process of hearing someone talk about the book actually leads you to hear their voice while you are reading - this is what happens for me anyway - so right now, it feels like I'm reading Ulysses with Professor Kitcher in the background, doing the voices in his mock-Irish accent.
The role of attention is
huge in both of these classes.
In physics you can pay attention very closely in lecture but still come away with little - this was my experience. In English, the more attention you pay, the more you take away. The experience of reading the books for class, and books in general really, is more enriching.
In physics, the point is just to solve the problems. You do a slew of them for exercise and then run the race in the final exam, which is always timed and never possible to finish in its entirety. That is, its a focus on ends. In english the focus is more on the means. The class lectures give you the means to really take in the books, and perhaps the world, in a deeper way.
This is a striking difference to the anti-school attitude that was around (is still around?) some parts of tech culture:
why go to college? you can just read the books and figure it outWhile it's possible to 'figure it out' from books alone - and maybe
program in C after reading the K&R book - it's rarely an instant effortless process à la Good Will Hunting. There is something squishy and touchy-feely and very real and important about the way we take in new information.
Of course, watching physics equations / math problems done on the blackboard might even have the same effect as an English lecture for other folks. It's all very subjective.
