Yesterday was the first day of classes for the Fall Term at my university. I've been doing this for a long time but I am always surprised by the rush of adrenaline that comes with the start of classes. I enjoy teaching and the sight of students in the classroom directly triggers the accumulated feelings I've amassed.
Mathematics as a discipline teaches accountability. Every claim, whether it be a computation result or a statement (theorem) about how things work is accountable. We teach this accountability developmentally, with lower expectations at the beginning, and sometimes folk who study mathematics casually don't understand this. In my multivariable calculus classes, which I teach most frequently, I usually phrase my expectations as "give me a reason to believe your answer", citing my time working at an investment bank where my recommendations had financial repercussions and my supervisor never took my word for anything. In higher-level mathematics classes such as Abstract Algebra or Analysis I can be more explicit: these are the things we all agree to assume, these are the proof techniques which we understand; can you make an argument that convinces the community who have accepted those axioms and rules of inference that what you claim is true? We work hard to remove the ego fro...
Dr. Clark, your energy is very much appreciated in classes, you have managed to teach me the classes content, math history, and cause me excitement around mathematics. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou're much too kind---
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