I figured if a Nobel Laureate can be so unassuming about his life as an educator, maybe the rest of us can learn a thing or two from him...
"I don't believe I can really do without teaching. The reason is, I have to have something so that when I don't have any ideas and I'm not getting anywhere I can say to myself, 'at least I'm living; at least I'm doing something; I'm making some contribution...it's just psychological'."
Drape and I have had these discussions many times...what a GREAT gig teaching is, what a great living it is, how much fun it is, etc. You already know that, or you wouldn't be here...BUT, when it is reiterated by a Nobel Laureate ,no less, even more satisfying...
"When I was at Princeton in the 1940s I could see what happened to those great minds at the Institute for Advanced Study who had been specially selected for their tremendous brains and were now given this opportunity to sit in this lovely house by the woods there, with no classes to teach, with no obligations whatsoever. These poor bastards could now sit and think clearly by themselves, OK? So now, you don't get an idea for awhile, what's next? You have every opportunity to get an idea, but you don't...nothing happens, because there's not enough REAL activity and challenge...you're not in contact with the experimental guys. I believe that in a situation like this a kind of guilt or depression worms inside of you, and you begin to worry about not getting ideas. And nothing happens...no ideas come.
Nothing happens because not enough real activity and challenge: you're not in contact with the experimental guys...the guys fooling around with this stuff...you don't have to think how to answer questions from the students...nothing.
In any thinking process there are moments when everything is going good and you've got wonderful ideas. Teaching is an interruption, and so it's the greatest pain in the neck in the world. And then there are the longer periods of time when not much is coming to you. You're not getting any ideas, and if you're not doing nothing at all, it drives you nuts. You can't even say, "Well at least I'm teaching...".
If you're teaching, you can think about the elementary things that you know very well. These kinds of things are fun and delightful. It doesn't do any harm to think them over again: Is there a better way to present them? Are there new problems associated with them? Are there any new thoughts you can make about them? The elementary thoughts are easy to think about: If you can't think of a new thought, no harm done-what you thought about before is good enough. If you do think of something new, you're rather pleased you have a new way of looking at it."
Sheesh...this was written 60 years ago, by one of the most profound minds to grace the face of this planet (and maybe others, depending on your leanings...)...I am, and will continue to be, in awe of the future WE ARE SHAPING...blog on, Bro's...it's NOW!
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