Thirty years ago, I walked into LS for the first teaching interview I had ever had. I was 30, and had taught only in Africa, as as a volunteer with the Peace Corps (which may soon no longer exist)… classes of 50 to 60 students with blackboards so rough that I went through 6 to 8 pieces of chalk every hour, in a small Cameroonian town with no running water or electricity. Nonetheless, my love for teaching math was immediate and I knew I would devote my career to it. I didn’t expect to get that job at LS – I showed up more just for the experience, to see what it was all about, so that the next interview would go more smoothly.
… and then I was invited to join LS, and in the blink of an eye, thirty years elapsed and somewhere in the neighborhood of 2800 students passed through my door…
The last chapter of my career is taking me to Johannesburg, South Africa where I will be teaching for a few more years (with running water and electricity this time!). There are few countries in the world with a more complex history, and with greater inequities between rich and poor. I want to learn about that history from the inside, to study the literature of its writers and listen to its musicians and learn some of its language. This is what makes me feel alive.
It’s been such a privilege to give my career to this place, to you my colleagues, and to you, my students. The world is changing rapidly, but the power of reading and the power of education have not changed. We live in a time in which we have never had more information at our disposal, but we also live in a time in which we have never needed to question authority more than we need to right now. If we don’t know how to question critically, if we don’t have the ability to sort through conflicting information and data to figure out what aligns with our own values, we will be at the mercy of those who can. As MLK said, “Your ignorance is their power.” And in these times, those in power are not necessarily working for the benefit of those with less power: what you don’t know, or are unaware of, or can’t analyze, WILL have the potential to hurt you. So… Read to expand your horizons: your own experiences are paltry compared to the breadth of those you will find in literature. Write to figure out what’s important to you. Seek the truth. Embrace conflict and pain and hard work: they offer the deepest, most formative lessons. Travel, invent, create, love, be generous, lift others up, and above all, leave the world a more beautiful and just place than you found it.
LS has always been an exceptional place that fosters exceptional relationships and exceptional people. I especially thank the math department and all the wonderful people in it. Over 30 years, quite a number of teachers have come and gone, but the department has never lost its core camaraderie that comes from such a strong common commitment to thinking deeply and speaking clearly. And thank you to my students, alongside whom I’ve learned so much over these decades. You’ve made me proud to say that I’m a teacher.
