Originally Posted by
MadMojoMonkey
This is something that kinda bugs me about physics students, actually.
They hold the mistaken conception that their books and professors know True things, and that their role as a student is to memorize these things. To the extent that their grade depends on learning what the book/professor are telling them, this makes some kind of sense. Add in that they are barely adults - just beginning to enter a world outside the loving shelter of their parents - and you see their motivation to blindly trust authority figures.
However, books and professors are not gifted with any power to divine Truths. They are just as fallible as any source of information. Trusting in their methods is only good for a layman's understanding of some of the techniques. It's when you understand that the complex methods are built out of simple assumptions that you see the power and limitations of what you've learned.
I mean... math books have typos, too. Sometimes it's those typos that slow me to a stop and force me to derive something. It's my active involvement in connecting what I think I understand with this new information which is the real learning. Sussing out that the typo is a false statement is indicative of the whole point of learning the theories and methods in play.
The more theory you know, the less of the derivative stuff you need to memorize, and the more you can figure out on your own - from more simple assumptions, no less.