When I was doing engineering, I had a very good algebra teacher.* Those where the days full of vectors and subspaces and subspaces of polynomials and matrices and subspaces of matrices of polynomials.
All from 7 a.m to 12 p.m.
In the middle of that math trench he said once something that my head really saved.
The teacher was explaining yet another concept while the sky was still dark in the morning and there was this guy that asked him to clarify a detail.
The question was asked and the teacher clarified.
He was a good teacher so, before moving on, he asked to this student if the idea was now understood.
He wanted this student validation.
The guy said ‘yes’ and right away this student started to describe all sorts of details about how he was reaching to the wrong conclusions by following an alternative reasoning based on the wrong assumptions he had while not having clear what he later asked about.
The teacher stopped him saying something I've never forgot:
No, no, wait, wait. Please do not explain me how you understood it wrong. Tell me instead how you're going to remember it right.
Update: together with my good friend Pablo Dobrusin we joined efforts and figured out who the teacher was, he was Fernando Acero at FIUBA - Facultad de Ingeniería Universidad de Buenos Aires.
Timeless insight.
Hats off to teachers like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment