I originally posted it on the discord channel and Reddit forum. I might as well just post it here in case anyone is interested in reading it. It’s going to be for those brave souls that dare to take Professor Mason’s winter intersession class, which meets 4 times a week, 2 hours a day, for 6 weeks straight. Hats off to your bravery by the way. 🤣

So Professor Mason is an interesting professor. I just had him this fall semester. He’s a very knowledgeable and practical person. He does go off-topic A LOT during class, mostly due to his age I believe. And the lectures are extremely long. The analogies that he uses during class are REALLY hard to comprehend because it’s pretty far from the actual topic. His exams are also nowhere close in resemblance to the study guides. But despite all of that, I still believe that he’s one of the better CS professors because it’s all about life experiences and practicality. After all, academics without practicality is worthless in my opinion.

Wanna get a taste of his analogy? Here’s an example: When he was lecturing about the concept of “Just-in-Time” production, his analogy started off at World War II. I’ll give you a moment to think about how it relates to “Just-in-Time” production. And I’ll reveal the answer at the end of the post.

*BUT, you do learn a lot of life skills. (that’s a huge bonus for those of you just stepping into the society from high school)*

So here’s the guide:

1. Discussion Forums (15 in total, one per week for semesters) (for intersessions, I don’t know, good luck! ) 😂
   1. Make sure you turn in those discussion forums ON TIME. He expects three paragraphs, but it does not mean you won’t get full points for less than three paragraphs, it comes down to CONTENT.
   2. His interest (probably also due to his age and life experiences) lies in POLICIES or POLITICS. According to my analysis, his political leaning is center-leaning right just a bit. This means that he enjoys the following opinions:
      1. Smaller government, bigger individual freedoms. (Government shouldn’t be intervening in people’s lives.)
      2. Workers should have a good work ethic (Less phone swiping and slacking off).
      3. He holds very traditional family and moral values (which is why I like him).
   3. That means your discussion responses should focus on satisfying those criteria. Which ultimately translates into STARTING off with POLICIES or POLITICS, and ENDS with its effect on PEOPLE.
2. Exams (4 in total – 1 possible attempt), Quizzes (10 in total – 3 possible attempts):
   1. DO NOT let exam scores scare or discourage you because it DOES NOT matter, and I REPEAT, IT DOES NOT MATTER AT ALL. Although, you obviously don’t want to flunk it with a 40%. All you should shoot for is 85% AT BEST, and try your best to score a minimum of 70% on all 4 exams if possible.
   2. The best way to study for the exams is to read the book chapter by chapter, just SKIM THROUGH it, no need for details.
   3. He likes to ask TRUE/FALSE and IN-CLASS LECTURE questions on exams, make sure you pay attention to his analogies and remember those, it’ll come in handy.
   4. Try to remember most of the KEYWORDS AND CYCLE GRAPHS when reading the textbook (online book).
3. Labs (9 in total)
   1. Could be hard, could be easy. But those are extremely helpful in the future for all of you stepping into the workforce regardless of occupation.
   2. I won’t spill the beans, I’ll let you experience it yourself. 🤣
4. Mini Assignments (3 in total for the semester, could be more, sent via email or Canvas announcement)
   1. Just do it, it matters. It takes AT MOST 5-30 minutes.
   2. Again, I won’t spill the beans, it’s all about experiencing it yourself. 😂
5. Canvas Grade:
   1. The grade that you see on Canvas is the WORST-CASE SCENARIO grade, it will never be that grade. For example, my grade on Canvas this fall semester was 90.07%, according to his syllabus, that’s a B. because A requires 92%+. But he did give me a 100% for this class, So this just goes to show you how much wiggle room and influence he has on your final grades.
   2. SO MAKE SURE YOU PARTICIPATE IN CLASS (This is very important) He could pick on you, but never take it personally because he is a very approachable person.

Last but not least, here’s the answer to that “Just-in-Time” analogy.

He continued that analogy and said that the atomic bombs that we dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WW II completely crippled the then-Japanese economy. Therefore, they needed to rebuild their industrial manufacturing from the ground up.

He then spent some time talking about car tires and the inventory spaces. EVENTUALLY, he said…

That is when the Japanese automakers took over the American market with their Just-in-Time production philosophy because most of the Japanese automakers adapted to this approach and contracted companies to provide them with car parts to assemble. So that way, they won’t have to keep inventory at their own facility, and by doing that, reducing their overhead costs and increase efficiency without losing quality.

Hopefully, this helps you guys get through his class this winter intersession. Ultimately, it all comes down to your willingness to actually try and put in the effort.

And for the love of God, please don’t tell him about this post. 😂

Here’s a sneak peek of one of the discussion forum responses I wrote:

Redacted some things to prevent ya’ll from copying and pasting. 😁

[Redacted topic sentence] There are many scopes and angles to examine and analyze this very issue. [Redacted 1 sentence] A well-documented example proving this was a fundamental change or development per se in the textile industry before and after the first industrial revolution. According to a Michigan State University editorial blogger Ali Farago, textiles were mainly made by hand through manual labor before the first industrial revolution. That means the cotton will need to be handpicked by human laborers and delivered to the cottages for further cottage worker processing before it can be supplied to the market (Farago The textile industry during the Industrial Revolution).

However, after the first industrial revolution, a new piece of machinery was developed to replace human weaving, which is the loom machine. History Crunch, a history-educating platform, took a deep dive into the past at the effects of the first industrial revolution on the textile industry; they stated that the development of the loom machine significantly improved the efficiency of making textiles. They further suggested that this monumental invention greatly contributed to freeing up the tied-up laborers from the old repetitive and inefficient ways of production (History Crunch Writers Textile Manufacturing in the Industrial Revolution). Moreover, those manual laborers who left this industry eventually acquired other skills needed to work in a different economic sector, further fueling the middle-class boom during that same period of time.

[Redacted 3 sentences] It may take some jobs away from people, but it is ultimately up to the people to adapt and learn the new generations of skills to catch up and fill those new job vacancies created by the rise of automation. [Redacted 1 sentence]

[Redacted conclusion paragraph] & [Redacted Works Cited page] 😁