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• Mathematics and learning (and other related stuff)
• R. L. Moore (from the man and others)
• Some Student Comments
• Some advice from Al Franken
• "October Sky" and the book Rocket Boys
• On Educational Administration
• From an Engineering Textbook (timeless tidbits)
• Living in the United States of America
• Parental Guidance
• The World Around Me
• Infinite Wisdom

A partial PowerPoint presentation of these quotes.

Mathematics and learning (and other related stuff):

• Pressure: It can burst a pipe or create a diamond. 
      (D.L. Hughley, from the television show "The Hughleys")
   
• The greatest good you can do for [students] is not just to share your riches but to reveal to [them their] own.  
      (Benjamin Disraeli)
   
• “Students learn mathematics only when they construct their own mathematical understanding”. The successful problem solver must be able to clearly articulate their problem solving process to others.
      (in the Core Mathematics handbook under "Communicate Effectively", United States Military Academy, 2005-6. p. 9)
   
• The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.
      (Paul R. Halmos, Hilbert Space Problem Book)
   
• It is not sufficient for the writer to believe it; enough details must be given so that the reader will also understand and believe. The burden of making oneself understood rests with the writer.
      (Charles Vanden Eynden, from the preface to his book Elementary Number Theory)

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• Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
      (John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach)
     
• Mathematics is a lot like eating a steak; you've got to cut it into little pieces or you'll choke. 
      (Jeff Lewis, 1995)
   
• It is not my aptitude but my attitude that determines my altitude. 
      (Rev. Jesse Jackson on the television show "A Different World")
     
• Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect! 
      (the late great Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame football coach and motivator extraordinaire)
     
• Luck is where opportunity meets preparedness. 
      (the late Alan Kulwicki, 1992 NASCAR Champion and mechanical engineer)

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• The mathematician is an artist whose medium is the mind and whose creations are ideas. 
      (H.S. Wall, 1902-1971)
     
• An idea is only a thought until it is communicated.
      (Jeff Lewis, 2002)
     
• [M]athematics is an art-- the purest form of art, in which the mind is the instrument of expression. This is the art which takes chaos and builds from it a magnificent structure of order and reason.
      (H.S. Wall, 1902-1971)
  `   
• You've got to drive beyond the hood of your car.
      (Ward Burton, 2002 Daytona 500 Champion)
     
• By the time people panic, it's usually too late to panic.
      (Michael Waltrip, 2001 & 2003 Daytona 500 Champion)

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• I cannot teach you. I can help you to explore and nothing more.
      (Bruce Lee, 1940-1973, the great martial artist, philosopher, and "teacher")
   
• Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
      (unknown)
   
• We are in pursuit of perfection. We will not catch it; only God is perfect. But, in our pursuit, we shall achieve excellence.
      (the late great Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame football coach and motivator extraordinaire)
   
• If you haven't got time to be a student, then don't be a student.
      (John Tatschl)
   
• There is no substitute for hard work.
      (Thomas Alva Edison)
   

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• It is a great nuisance that knowledge can only be attained by hard work.
      (W. Somerset Maugham)
   
• Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.
      (John Dewey)
   
• It is better to wear out than to rust out.
      (Bishop Richard Cumberland)
   
• The nerds are running the world now.
      (Joe Piscopo)
   
• No pain, no gain.
      (Anonymous but a common weight room statement)

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• Happy is the man who can understand why things happen.
      (Virgil)
   
• In a few minutes, a computer can make a mistake so great that it takes many men months to equal it.
      (Merle L. Meacham)
   
• If there's no struggle, there's no progress.
      (Frederick Douglas)
   
• [I]ntelligence is proved not by ease of learning, but by understanding what we learn.
      (Joseph Whitney)
   
• What you have been obliged to discover by yourself leaves a path in your mind which you can use again when the need arises.
      (G.C. Lichtenberg)

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• The good Lord made us with two ends-- one to sit on and one to think with. How well you succeed in life depends on which one you use.
      (Isaac Dworetsky)
   
• If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them.
      (Herbert V. Prochnow)
   
• You can see a lot just by looking.
      (Yogi Berra)
   
• A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.
      (Paul Erdos)
   
• Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning.
      (Benjamin Disraeli)

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• I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
      (Wayne Gretsky, "The Great One," when asked to explain his incredible skill on the ice. To see this philosophy in action, I recommend seeing the ESPN "Sports Century" episode featuring "The Great Gretsky.")
     
• Not one student in a thousand breaks down from overwork.
      (William Allan Neilson)
   
• When I was young I observed that nine out of every ten things I did were failures, so I did ten times more work.
      (George Bernard Shaw)
   
• With every mistake we must surely be learning.
      (the late George Harrison, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," from The Beatles' The White Album)
   
• Mathematicians are trained and inclined to sit and think. A mathematician can sit and think intensely about a problem for 12 hours a day, six months straight, with perhaps just pencil and paper.
       (Leonard Adelman, MIT, co-inventor of RSA coding system)

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• No one will be able to read the great book of the Universe if he does not know the language, which is that of mathematics.
      (Galileo)
   
• [Y]ou learn with experience. You make a mistake one time, and you learn from it and you try not to let it happen again.
      (Teresa Earnhardt, CEO of Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) and widow of seven-time NASCAR Champion Dale Earnhardt)
   
• Improvise, adapt, and overcome.
      (Clint Eastwood as USMC Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway in the movie "Heartbreak Ridge")
   
• Of all the pre-college curricula, the highest level of mathematics one studies in secondary school has the strongest continuing influence on bachelor degree completion.
      (Stanford University's Bridge Project, Betraying the College Dream )
   
• Lately, student errors have come more from "missed information" than "misinformation."
      (Jeff Lewis, 2003)
  

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• Find your passion!
      (Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State for George W. Bush (2nd term), while professor of political science at Stanford University, advising her students on choosing a major)
   
• Athletes are expected to perform at a higher level in college than high school. Why shouldn't we expect the same from our students?
      (Jeff Lewis, 2004)
   

• Drop a pebble into a calm lake and watch its ripples. What you do today WILL impact your future!
      (taken from a high school AP Calculus Course Guidelines Page)
   

• The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. [Y]ou can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.
      (the late great Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame football coach and motivator extraordinaire)
   

• Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth try.
      (James A. Michener)
   

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• If you can judge a wise man by the color of his skin, then mister, you're a better man than I.
      (Aerosmith, from their song "Livin' On the Edge")
     
• Reading is fundamental**. But you don't really "read" a mathematics book, you need to "write" a mathematics book by taking notes and working examples as you go.
      (my response to a student asking, "How can I pass your class?" **Taken from <http://www.rif.org/>)
     
• The most important thing students can learn is how to learn on their own. Technology is rapidly changing [the world] and those who cannot teach themselves will find their mere knowledge of the fundamentals insufficient for future challenges.
      (quote from a long-time advisor in If I Wanted to Study I Would Have Gone to a Real College by Tony R. Kuphaldt)
     
• There's no great fun, satisfaction, or joy derived from doing something that's easy.
      (John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach)
       
• It dawned on me about two weeks into the first year that it was not teaching that was taking place in the classroom, but learning.
      (Sting, formerly of the rock group The Police, reflecting on his early career as a teacher)
     

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• [T]he [mathematics] textbook, although sometimes hard to read, goes at the reader's pace.
      (Steven Zucker, Johns Hopkins University)
     
• I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. What I cannot accept is not trying.
      (Michael Jordan)
     
• Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
      (John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach)
     
• People are afraid of things they do not understand.
      (unknown)
     
• When reading a mathematics text, not only do you need a pencil and paper but you need to visualize what is going on-- like reading an erotic novel.
      (Charles Vanden Eynden, as he spoke one day during an Advanced Real Analysis course at Illinois State University. Needless to say, I haven't read a mathematics textbook the same since!)

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• [P]eople don't learn important lessons from words; they learn from experience.
      (from the book Twenty Years Before the Blackboard (1998) by Michael Stueben with Diane Sandford)
   
• All I know is, the choices you make dictate the life you lead. "To thine own self be true."
      (Bill Rago, Danny DeVito's character in the movie "Renaissance Man," to his soldier-students)
   
• Failure is crucial: Create and then try an idea, fail, learn from that misstep, and try again. Learn from failure-- it truly is the best teacher. One of the most powerful ways to develop insight and intuition is through a careful examination of previous failed attempts.
      (from Extending the Frontiers of Mathematics: Inquiries into proof and argumentation (2007) by Edward B. Burger, p. xiii)
   
• My job is to challenge students to think so when they need to think, it won't be such a challenge.
      (Jeff Lewis, 2006)
   
• Teaching is not the organized presentation of material. That's the job of the textbook.
      (from the book Twenty Years Before the Blackboard (1998) by Michael Stueben with Diane Sandford, p. 70.)
   

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• If you don't have time to do it right, then you don't have time to do it wrong.
      (Randy Pausch, October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008, professor of computer science, Carnegie Mellon University. Someday, I hope to walk across the Randy Pausch Memorial Bridge. This bridge connects the computer science building to the fine arts building on the Carnegie Mellon campus. I plan to make this journey with my children.)
   
• Don't mistake activity for achievement.
      (John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach)
   
• If we expect less from our students, they WILL meet our expectations.
      (paraphrase from a Newsweek article written by Pat Wingert.)
   
• Give a part-time effort; expect a part-time result!
      (this was a sign on the weight room wall at a school where I coached)
   
• I wonder if mathematics isn't rather a state of mind, an analytic mind, which can size up a situation, discard the unimportant, fit disorganized facts into a pattern, and know when a problem is solved. If we approach the teaching of mathematics with this as our axiom, it might be that we could make essential progress. For instance, we would no longer apply the old principle of supplying answers to problems! Part of the scientific mind is the critical ability to know when the problem is solved.
      (H.S. Wall, in a contribution to the Illinois Institute of Technology newspaper where he was a professor of mathematics one year prior to joining R.L. Moore on the mathematics faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, 1945?)
   

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• Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
      (E. M. Forster, from the Moore Method entry on Wikipedia < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_method >)
   
• The structure [of mathematics] is not like a tree, but more like a scaffolding, with many interconnected supports. Once the scaffolding is solidly in place, it is not hard to build it higher, but it is impossible to build a layer before previous layers are in place.
      (William P. Thurston, 1982 Fields Medalist, from his paper "Mathematical Education" (1990))
   
• Part of growing up is making your own decisions and living by them.
      (Ken Carter, Samuel L. Jackson's character, to his son in the movie "Coach Carter" (2005) which was based on a true story)
   
• Some teachers believe, incorrectly, that they can improve a student's self-esteem with words and other easy expressions of praise (like high grades) even though the student isn't doing the best work he or she can. The wisest know that accomplishment is the foundation of self-esteem. Students know when they're doing their best, and they know when they're being allowed to cut corners. They may complain that their teachers are expecting too much, but good teachers know enough not to listen to that particular complaint.
      (John Merrow, president of Learning Matters, in his essay "The Influence of Teachers: On Rewriting, Character Education, and the Future of America")
   
• [H]igher test scores are often treated as the goal. Legislators, newspapers and parents put superintendents and school boards under pressure, superintendents and school boards put principals under pressure, principals put teachers under pressure; and teachers put students under pressure to raise scores. The sad result is that many mathematics courses are specifically designed to raise scores on some standardized test.
      (William P. Thurston, 1982 Fields Medalist, from his paper "Mathematical Education" (1990))
   

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• The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts, but the training of the mind to think.
      (Albert Einstein)
   
• To be a mathematician, one must love mathematics more than family, religion, or any other interest.
      (Paul Halmos)
   
• Why should I limit you to what I know? 
      (J.R. Boyd, Guilford College, to then-freshman G. Edgar Parker when asked, "Mr. Boyd, why don't you just show us how to do it?" from the video "Creativity in Mathematics")
   
• Students shouldn't earn a grade; they need to learn a grade.
      (paraphrase of something I heard years ago.  I don't remember the exact statement)
   
• The human mind is like an umbrella, it functions best when opened.
      (Walter Gropius, quote taken from the website for the Educational Advancement Foundation (EAF) < http://eduadvance.org/ >)
   

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• [T]he ability to learn from mistakes is crucial in the math world.
      (Kourtney Betler, Mathematics Major, University of Mount Union, from < http://www.mountunion.edu/kourtney-betler >)
   
• If we teach today's students as we did yesterday's, we are robbing them of tomorrow.
      (John Dewey)
   
• Once you know how to think ALL YOUR COURSES ARE EASY!
      (student comment when asked "What changed?" from being barely a C-student to being an A/B student in the upper-level courses taken.)
   
• If you shoot for an A and fall short, you still have a pretty good chance at getting a B or C.  If you shoot for a C and fall short, it's a sure thing you'll be taking this class again.
      (my response to a student saying, "Why do you expect so much from us?  All I need is a C in this class!"  This is my version of something I read by "Uri" Treisman.)
   
• Seems to me the purpose of education is clearly to make [students] independent thinkers; to make them be able to take the challenges that they are going to be faced with which are the challenges that we do not know today the questions haven't even been asked and allow them to have the ability, the confidence, the analytical ability, the critical thinking ability, and the independence in their way of viewing the world to take on those challenges and to find good imaginative solutions to problems that have not yet been posed.
      (Michael Starbird, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, UT-Austin, in the video "Creativity in Mathematics")
   

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• Every student is asked to concentrate, read, dream, talk, reason, and find solutions for themselves.
      (the AFT president while on a visit to Finland to observe their educational system (ranked # 1 in the world))
   
• I missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over and over in my life. And, that is why I succeed.
      (Michael Jordan)
   
• Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? ... Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. ... It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
      ("Our Deepest Fear" by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles and quoted (in part) by one of the players in the movie "Coach Carter" starring Samuel L. Jackson as basketball coach Ken Carter)
   
• [W]e walk away from our dreams afraid that we may fail, or worse yet, afraid we may succeed.
      (from the movie "Finding Forrester" (2000) with Sean Connery as William Forrester)
  
• Algebra, which has a glorious history of more than three thousand years, might very well be called a universal language of civilization. It provides a foundation upon
  which higher mathematics is built and it is the language of modern science and technology. Many problems which would prove difficult to one armed only with arithmetic become far easier when translated into algebra.
  Like so many languages, however, algebra requires much study before one can become proficient in it. The old adage that there is no royal road to learning is no exception here. One must dwelop a clear understanding of its basic principles, and much practice and drill may be necessary before one can "speak it" fluently.
      (M.R. Spiegel, September 1956, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
   

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Professor R. L. Moore (1882-1974) and others about Prof. Moore and the Moore Method

• I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand. 
      (Chinese proverb from R.L. Moore, quoted by Paul R. Halmos in I Want to be a Mathematician)
     
• That student is taught the best who is told the least. 
      (R.L. Moore, 1882-1974)
   
• [Dr. Moore] told us early on that he had no use for the university guidelines stating that we should expect three hours of outside class work for each hour in the classroom. He said he wanted us to think about his class all day, every day, to go to bed thinking about it, to wake up in the night thinking about it, to get up the next morning thinking about it, to think about it walking to class, to think about it while we were eating. If we weren't prepared to do that, he didn't want us in his class. It was also quickly evident that he meant what he said....
      (John Green, PhD, University of Texas, 1968, under R. L. Moore, recalling Professor Moore's position on being his student, taken from the book R.L. Moore: Mathematician and Teacher by John Parker)
   
• In terms of trying to prove the success of a method of teaching, the ultimate measure is the success of the students.
      (Albert Lewis, Mathematics Historian, on the effectiveness of the Moore method as implemented by R.L. Moore from the video "Creativity in Mathematics")
       
• No, but I hope that they all want to become mathematicians.
      (Dr. Moore's response to the question "Do you really expect all of your students should become mathematicians?" from Albert Lewis in the video "Creativity in Mathematics")

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Some Student Comments

from students having completed a course--

• It was a hard A.  Some of my classmates complained about the unorthodox format but I found it challenging.  He wasn't kidding about at least 2 hours outside of class for every 1 in class.  I've taken 3 math courses at JUCO and this was the first one that required some work.
      (former Calculus II student)
     
• [I]t was a big time commitment but I feel like it paid off because having to actively work on seeking out solutions did push me to master the material in a way I probably would not have if it had all been spoon fed to me.  I strongly believe it was worth it. The classroom banter at the end of a stressful workday was something I ended up looking forward to and I know it was the IBL model that facilitated that. I enjoyed the course far more than I would have anticipated and I thank you for that!. 
      (former precalculus student from a TR evening section)
   
• On homework assignments focus more on understanding the concepts as opposed to completing every problem.  Understand that in the IBL method of teaching Professor Lewis will rarely lecture. In class, it is up to you to ask questions in class about things you do not understand so DON'T be shy. Asking questions is the way to learn in this method.  Change your approach to the tests. Approach them as graded study guides.  Realize that Professor Lewis does things differently. Find the method of studying that works and don't constrain yourself to do things a certain way that you have in the past. Good luck!
      (former precalculus student's written response to: "What would you tell next semester's students about the course?")
  

from RateMyProfessors, the incredibly accurate evaluation website--

• Expects you to learn everything from the book and come to class and ask questions. Doesn't teach anything himself and expects you to learn everything on your own.
      (apparently a past student)

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Some advice from Al Franken

• Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.
      (Al Franken, from his book Oh, the Things I Know!)
   
• I remember being in your place twenty-nine years ago, although I have to tell you I almost didn't graduate. My senior year, I took a course, Soc Sci 134 "The Social History of the United States," taught by one of the universities most illustrious professors, Daniel Bell, who had coined the phrase "post industrial society" and been on the cover of Time Magazine. The problem was the class was at nine in the morning and that semester I was in a play at Dunster House--we really were the theater house--and rehearsals tended to go very late. I did manage to go to all the lectures which were in Williams James, but the building, at least at that time, was very overheated, and I would routinely fall asleep in Professor Bell's lecture.
  
  When the run of the play ended, we had a cast party which lasted through the entire night and I'm embarrassed to say I got a little drunk. And when 9AM rolled around, having not slept, I for some reason thought it was a good idea to show up at Soc Sci 134 wearing a pajama top. I fell asleep and then at the end of the lecture, I stood up and I kind of passed out, falling into Dr. Bell's arms.
  
  It occurred to me soon after that I might be in danger of flunking Soc Sci 134. And I needed to pass it in order to graduate. So, I went to my T.F. and asked him what I needed to pass. And he told me that Dr. Bell thought I was a drug addict. So he suggested I talk to Bell and ask him what I could do to make sure I passed the course.
  
  So, I made an appointment with Dr. Bell for noon the next day. When I got to his office, he was meeting with a grad student, so his secretary asked me to go out into the lounge and wait for him, where I sat on the couch and immediately fell asleep. The next thing I saw was Dr. Bell, leaning over me saying, "Do you want to sleep or do you want to talk to me?"
  
  I said, "talk with you!" So we met in his office and I explained to him about the play and the rehearsals going late and the building being overheated, and Dr. Bell told me he felt it was a student's responsibility to stay conscious during class. Then he told me that the final exam--and the whole grade was based on the final exam, there were no papers, no quizzes, no tests, no midterms--the final exam was based solely on the reading. If I did all the reading, I'd be fine. So, I thanked him and went back to my room and looked at the reading list for the first time, and it was the longest reading list I'd ever seen at Harvard. No one could possibly do all this reading. So, I spent the entire reading period in Lamont reading the reading list. And actually, it was great. The entire social history of our country unfolded before me there in Lamont. It was inspiring really and it made me wish I had stayed awake for the lectures.
  
  So, then on the way to the exam, it was in Sever, it occurred to me that maybe Bell was screwing with me. You know, why wouldn't he screw with a drug addict? I mean, what if the exam isn't on the reading? What if it's on the lectures? So I get into Sever and I get my blue book and I get the exam and I look at the first question, and it's directly from the reading. Second question, directly from the reading. They're all--everything on this exam--directly from the reading.
  
  So a few days later I go to the T.F.'s office to pick up my exam, and he says, "Bell's pissed. You got the highest grade of anyone in the entire class." It's a lecture of about 120 people. Of course. I was the only one who did all the reading. So now Bell thinks that a drug addict got the highest grade in his class. So, I'm laughing until I remember that I took the course pass-fail.
     (Al Franken, from his Harvard "Class Day" address, June 5th, 2002, Harvard Class of 1973.)
  The text of the full address can be found at http://www.commencement.harvard.edu/2002/franken.html
  

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Related to the movie "October Sky" and the book Rocket Boys:

• Failure, after all, just added to our body of knowledge.
      (Homer H. Hickam, retired NASA engineer, quoting his friend and fellow "Rocket Boy" Quentin, from his book Rocket Boys, the inspiration for the movie "October Sky")
     
• All I've done is give you a book. You have to have the courage to learn what's inside.
      (Freida Joy Riley, Chemistry Instructor at Big Creek High School (WV) after giving the Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA) a book entitled Principles of Guided Missile Design, from the book Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.)
     
• I had discovered that learning something, no matter how complex, wasn't hard when I had a reason to want to know it.
      (Homer H. Hickam, explaining how he, as a high school student, could teach himself trigonometry, calculus, and differential equations when he had "barely survived" algebra, from his book Rocket Boys.)
     
• ...well, there's a whole other world out there.
      (Jake Mosby, Coalwood, WV, mining engineer, to Homer "Sonny" Hickam whose dream was to work for NASA, from the book Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.)
     
• We saw obstacles as opportunities.
      (Homer H. Hickam, from Aiming High: The Story of the Rocket Boys, in the Special Features of the DVD for "October Sky")

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• The work of such people is necessary-- well, some of it is anyway-- but it should not be for that reason regarded as a promotion, looked up to, revered, and overpaid.
      (Paul R. Halmos, his view of administrators ("paper shufflers") at universities, from his book, I Want to be a Mathematician, p. 221)
   
• Most people don't cut administration, they build it, so generally there are no bad administrative-hiring areas at community colleges. At my college, however, I eliminated all the deans in order to counter a $2-million deficit and create a more entrepreneurial approach, but my thinking is not your normal thinking. I strongly believe that most decisions have to be left to the experts, and that's the faculty in the classroom. The more we flatten the decision-making structure, the faster things can move.     
      (Neal Raisman, past-president of Onondaga Community College, responding to the question, "What are the worst areas for administrative hiring?" from The Chronicle of Higher Education, <http://chronicle.com/jobs/v45/i31/4531sptlt4.htm>)

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Some timeless tidbits from (first published in 1927):

Dana, F.C., and L.R. Hillyard, Engineering Problems Manual,4th edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1947

• The average student wastes much time and effort and gets lower grades than he [/she] should because of inaccuracy in figuring [and] the habit of [careless] inaccuracy saps confidence and leads to future difficulties. (p. 7)
   
• [Prominent among] time wasters are the formula worshipers...who spend more time hunting [for] a magic formula than they would need to analyze the problem piece by piece using simple familiar methods and calculations. (p. 9)
   
• There is a close connection between slovenly thinkers and slovenly [writing], and a close correlation between the appearance of the paper and the mental habits of the writer. (p. 11) 
   
• [The person] who resents difficulties, the quitter, the whiner, the leaner, the bluffer, gravitates sooner or later to a less demanding way [than engineering] of making a living. (p. 13)
   
• (Under the heading "How to flunk out") It can be said too often that the ability to understand and solve problems does not come by memorizing formulas... Formulas are not substitutes for thought, nor can they be used safely by blindly substituting data assumed to them. (p. 27)
   
• Do not make fine, faint, gray ,marks. They are sufficient reason for complete rejection of a paper by the checker even though the paper is otherwise acceptable. Bear down on the pencil... Do not scribble... Keep papers clean... Avoid crowding... Watch your spelling. (p. 46-49)
   
• Use horizontal-bar fractions to show division. [Inclined-bar fractions cause too many blunders.] (p. 55)
   
• A working knowledge of the right triangle is of vital importance. (p. 140) 
   
• The two principal operations [of calculus] are complementary... One is finding the rate of change of some variable; the other is determining the total change... Throughout the entire subject of calculus the student is really working with differential equations. (p. 193)
   

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• [Y]ou know my feelings about arming morons: you arm one, you've got to arm them all, otherwise it wouldn't be good sport.
      (Judge Flatt, played by Philip Bosco, in the movie "Nobody's Fool.")
   
• Give me your tired, your poor,
  Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...
      (Emma Lazarus, from her poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty)
   
• It's a great country and it's an honor to live here.
      (Sergei Khrushchev, the son of former soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, a Brown University professor, and relatively new United States citizen)
   
• Simon Wilder (played by Joe Pesci):
  You asked a question, sir, let me answer it. The genius of the Constitution is that it can always be changed. The genius of the Constitution is that it makes no permanent rule other than its faith in the wisdom of ordinary people to govern themselves.
  
  Professor Pitcannon (played by Gore Vidal):
  Faith in the wisdom of the people is exactly what makes the Constitution incomplete and crude.
  
  Simon:
  Crude? No sir. Our founding parents were pompous, middle aged, white farmers, but they were also great men. Because they knew one thing that all great men should know--that they didn't know everything. They knew they were going to make mistakes, but they made sure to leave a way to correct them. They didn't think of themselves as leaders; they wanted a government of citizens, not royalty. A government of listeners not lecturers. A government that could change, not stand still. The President isn't an elected King, no matter how many bombs he can drop because the crude Constitution doesn't trust him. He's a servant of the people. He's a bum, okay Mr. Pitcannon? He's just a bum. And the only bliss that he's searching for is freedom and justice.
      (from the movie "With Honors" and the scene "A Harvard Bum" written by William Mastrosimone, found at http://www.whysanity.net/monos/honors.html)
   

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• The most important profession is parenting.
      (John Wooden, October 14, 1910 - June 4, 2010 [my son's eighth birthday])
   
• I'm going to kill the first one and let the word get out.
      (Charles Barkley, on how to deal with boys when his daughter was old enough to start dating)
   
• The way to make life difficult for your children is to make it easy for them.
      (unknown)
   
• All one can really leave one's children is what's inside their heads. Education, in other words, and not earthly possessions, is the ultimate legacy, the only thing that cannot be taken away.
      (Dr. Wernhor von Braun, from the book Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.)
   
• Well, don't blow yourself up.
      (Elsie Hickam to her son, Homer, after he informed his parents at the dinner table that he was going to build a rocket, from the book Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. and a line from the movie "October Sky")

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Some Quotes from The World Around Me:

This section contains things said by me, said to me, or heard by me that I found to be interesting and/or entertaining.

• Are you with HIM???!
      (a Wal-Mart employee (a high school male) in disbelief, to my wife at the jewelry counter as he saw me walk up next to her holding a "Fazoli's" restaurant drink cup, just like the one in her hand; thereby, shooting down his "chances" with her. That's right buddy, she's with me and I can't believe it either!)
   
• Let's hope he grows out of it.
      (my response to people when they say my son "looks just like his daddy.")
   
• This is a summer course and it's not supposed to be as hard as a regular class.
      (a student complaining about the amount of work needed to be done in a summer precalculus course.)
   
• Well then, let's just make a call to the Registrar's Office and tell them to put "Not-Quite Precalculus" on your transcript.
      (my response to the student in the previous quote.)
   
• I used to be able to fall right to sleep at night. Now, I lie there thinking about these problems before I can go to sleep!
      (told to me by an honors trigonometry student as we discussed his solutions to some of the problems in his Honors Trig problem packet written in a Moore method format.)
   
• You might want to place a pad of paper and pencil next to your bed because any solutions you dream about won't be there in the morning unless you write them down.
      (my response to the previous quote from my own personal experience. In fact, my wife keeps putting my paper and pencil away and I keep putting them back on the night stand. At first, she thought I was crazy (she was right about that fact) but when I woke up at 2:00 am one morning and sketched out a proof in the dark (I didn't want to turn the light on and wake her completely) she became a believer. Of course, she hasn't changed her opinion on my sanity!)
   
• So, your math textbook was written with an accent, too?
      (my response to a person claiming they did not do well in College Algebra because the instructor (a Teaching Assistant) spoke with an accent. My point being, everything you need to know is in the textbook and anything you don't understand from the reading should be asked for clarification.)
   
• You are absolutely right. I do have a cushy job. I get to choose which 60-plus hours of the week I use to do it.
      (my response to the statement made by a person that "teaching is such a cushy job."  This person thought a 15-hour course load per week meant 15 hours of work per week.  One of the many misconceptions some people have about education.)
   
• My job is to challenge you to think so when you need to think it won't be a challenge.
      (my response to a student claiming my job was to do examples and only those they would see on a test.  As an IBL/Moore Method advocate, this clearly is not the case!  I have changed the statement slightly and use it as a one-line description of my teaching philosophy.)
   
• It just doesn't seem right. I'm taking 15 hours this summer and I don't have the time to spend doing these over and over like other people.
      (a student complaining about a mastery assignment kicking them out after one too many errors [strikes].  Gee, I wonder, what could possibly be causing this difficulty?)
   
• If you shoot for an A and fall short, you still have a pretty good chance at getting a B or C.  If you shoot for a C and fall short, it's a sure thing you'll be taking this class again.
      (my response to a student saying, "Why do you expect so much from us?  All I need is a C in this class!"  This is my version of something I read years ago by Uri Treisman.)
   
• When I retire, guess whose generation will be running things?  More importantly, since I have young children [8 and 9 at the time], I want problem solvers running the show so that when my children take over they won't need to clean up the mess left by problem creators!
      (what I really wanted to say to the student above)
  
• I don't need to watch it. I'm married to it!
      (my wife when asked, "Have you ever watched the show "The Big Bang Theory" on television?"  The funny part was my entire family nodding their heads in agreement as she finished the statement.)
  

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I am grateful to my beautiful wife for convincing me that our lives would not be complete without children. As usual, she was absolutely correct. Our children have allowed me to see the world again, even view things for the first time, using their eyes, ears, and mouths. It has been an amazing ride so far! Below are some of their contributions to the education of their father and now the world.

• Daddy, you know, water would make the perfect rain.
      (our 3-year old daughter responding to her 2-year old brother splashing her while swimming, 2004)
   
• When can we go back to My-reka Springs?
      (our 3-year old daughter upon our return from Eureka (Your-reka) Springs, Arkansas, 2004)
   
• That's a circle. It has no angles.
      (our 3-year old daughter explaining the difference between shapes and coming upon a circle, 2004)
   
• Welcome...you got mail!
      (our 2-year old son's greeting to the computer when it is starting up, 2004)
   
• Maybe the power needs new batteries.
      (our 3-year old daughter during one of the many power outages caused by an ice storm, January 2005)
   
• That's okay Dad, I've got things under control.
      (our 3-year old daughter when asked if she needed help putting on her shoes, April 2005)
   
• I don't want to go to school today. It's the last day of summer and I don't want to miss it!
      (our 4-year old daughter when asked if she was ready to leave for school on Wednesday, September 21, 2005)
   
• Daddy, you going to the circus?
      (our 3-year old son's goodbye to me as I left for school. Little did he know the accuracy of his question, October 2005)
   
• It's a little bit froggy today. Ribbit, ribbit.
      (our 3-year old son as he looked out the window on a very foggy fall morning, October 2005)
   
• Dad, do you think God could turn the sun back on? I want to play outside today.
      (our 4-year old daughter on a cloudy, cold day after playing outside (in the warm sun) the day before, February 2006)
   
• The bunny ate a Larry.
      (our 4-year old daughter referring to Larry the Cucumber (from the "Veggie Tales" DVDs) after a rabbit ate a cucumber plant from the garden, May 2006)
   
• Sorry bunny, the garden is CLOSED!
      (our 3-year old son watching "our" backyard rabbit through the window after his mother had fenced-in the garden, May 2006)
   
• Please get me a towel, I'm sugaring!
      (our "sweet" 4-year old son as he "sugars" (shivers) after getting out of the swimming pool, July 2006)
   
• The trees and flowers are sad.
      (our 4-year old son watching the tears (raindrops) drip off the leaves as a downpour interrupted a vacation picnic, July 4, 2006)
   
• I'm a movie star!
      (our 4-year old son watching a taped replay of himself in the church Christmas program, December 2006)
   
• A zebra lives in a zoo and an elevator lives in a hotel.
      (our 4-year old son as he names animals and where they live, February 2007. When he was younger, he was afraid of elevators because he didn't want to be eaten by one.)
   
• We're playing dark dot com (dark.com).
      (our 5-year old daughter as she runs around the house with her 4-year old brother carrying a flashlight and shutting off all the lights, February 2007)
   
• It's raining, it's pouring, it's boring, boring, boring!
      (our 5-year old daughter as she looks out the window on a rainy day off from school, March 9, 2007)
   
• Can we skip reading tonight? My eyes are sick.
      (our 5-year old daughter's way of saying she was tired, a few days after recovering from an illness that completely wore her out, March 2007)
   
• Dad, we need to plan Mom's birthday party for March 33rd.
      (our 5-year old daughter, who is willing to have a party for any reason, talking about her mother's birthday on March (31 + 2) = April 2nd, March 2007)
   
• Dad, what were you thinking? You're supposed to have it in rainbow order!
      (Our 5-year old daughter as she rearranges the colored chairs around her and her brother's table in the order red, yellow, green, and blue. Now, I will never replace the chairs without thinking RoY G Biv first, March 2007)
   
• The sky is dripping on everything!
      (our 4-year old son as he looked out the window at a spring downpour, March 2007)
   
• Dad, can you hurry it up. This is really wearing me out.
      (our 6-year old daughter on a hot, sunny day as I pull her and her brother with my bike in their bicycle trailer, July 2007)
   
• It looks like God spilled some sugar at breakfast this morning.
      (our 6-year old daughter on a cold morning as she looked at the frost on the grass and car windshield before our weekday commute to school, December 2007)
   
• It feels like I have a kitten in my neck.
      (our 6-year old daughter one morning at breakfast explaining that her throat felt scratchy, January 2008)
   
• Well then spit it out!
      (our 5-year old son's response to his sister's scratchy throat and kitten in her neck. Now, why didn't I think of that comeback?, January 2008)
   
• This is my team. They wear the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. I call them "The Odds."
      (our 6-year old daughter's example of a team after her 5-year old brother is asked to draw an example of a team on his homework, March 2008)
   
• Yeah, only the people at Wal-Mart work more than Mom. Their store is open twenty-four hours a day!
      (our 6-year old daughter's response when I told someone that my wife (her mother) works 12-hour shifts as a nurse, May 2008).
   
• After because I have an important meeting scheduled at lunch tomorrow .
      (our 7-year old son's response when I asked him whether I should pick him up from school before or after lunch to go to the dentist, March 2010).
   
• Dad, could you vote to end all these awful election commercials.
      (our 9-year old daughter's response to me after my affirmative reply to her question, "Will you be voting in Tuesday's (Nov. 2, 2010) election?", October 2010).
   

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	Jeff Lewis, Box 29  Mathematics Department Johnson County Community College 12345 College Blvd. Overland Park, Kansas 66210 913.469.8500x4594
... and this is the aftermath!