Mathematics is a very abstract science and teaching maths is a great art, the proficiency possessed only by very few teachers. My teacher in high school – George Mathews was one of them. His passion for the subject and the rapport he built with his students both the bright and the duds in his class was amazing. It is with great nostalgia that I still remember his classes even after 50 years of leaving the school.
Two incidents which I wish to narrate here will explain what I mean:
Brahmanandan was the weakest in our class in maths. Mr. George gave us an assignment to be done at home over the weekend. There were 100 questions involving quadratic equations to be solved. After distributing the answer books to all on Monday morning with his comments, Mr George called Brahma and had a long chat with him. Brahma was visibly satisfied with the interaction. Out of curiosity, I looked at his workbook. He had 98 out of 1oo wrong answers and Mr. George did all the work in RED Ink in his book with explanations for ease of understanding even by Brahma. I could not believe my eyes. I saw the greatness in my teacher then.
In another occasion, Mr. George was explaining to us that ‘the opposite of a theorem or a mathematical statement may not always be true’. To illustrate this further he said, “A crow is black in color but all that is black in nature may not necessarily be a crow”. I do not think even Brahma missed the point .
A great teacher not merely imparts knowledge but facilitates understanding!!