Something To Think About
April 21, 2015 2 Comments
Below are two quotes from two mathematicians. Robert Brooks is speaking about mathematics, but could his statement refer to something else? Charles Kalme mentions education and not mathematics, but is there a connection between the two quotes? What do these two quotes suggest in our everyday lives?
“…it dawned on me that all the numbers we had been given to add up until that time had been kind of “cooked up”, so you didn’t have to carry…; and I said to myself, “I wonder what else they’re holding back?”–Robert Brooks, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, University of Southern California
“Education courses are where you learn not to rock the boat.”–Charles Kalme, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, University of Southern California
About Robert M. Weiss
Site of Discovery and Wonder 
The first statement, by Robert Brooks, seems to me about some budget figures. Those figures and tables the politicians announce at the time of their budgets hardly ever stand up to scrutiny and, therefore “don’t add up”.
In the second statement, by Charles Kalme, I can see the disappointment when he sees that so many of his colleagues are only interested in their tenure. Friedrich Schiller talked about this in his inaugural speech at Jena in May 1789. He was talking, in particular about universal history, but generally it is applicable to all studies. He was worried about the academics that are there only to collect their wages and not to expand their knowledge for themselves, their students nor society as a whole.
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I forget to show the link to his speech. I looked for it for a long time and finally was able to find the English version.
Click to access schiller.pdf
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