I liked it so much that it was much too complicated for my then equipment for writing to deal with and, aside from four very short sketches, I was not able to write anything about it for five years — and I wish I would have waited ten. However, if I had waited long enough I probably never would have written anything at all since there is a tendency when you really begin to learn something about a thing not to want to write about it but rather to keep on learning about it always and at no time, unless you are very egotistical, which, of course, accounts for many books, will you be able to say: now I know all about this and will write about it. Certainly I do not say that now; every year I know there is more to learn, but I know some things which may be interesting now, and I may be away from the bullfights for a long time and I might as well write what I know about them now. Also it might be good to have a book about bullfighting in English and a serious book on such an unmoral subject may have some value. – Ernest Hemingway (Death in the afternoon)
Hello!
Math, Econ, Help! was founded by Jamie Cross in 2016 to provide free educational material to students who – like his past self – struggle with economics and mathematics, but can’t afford private tutoring. The goal is to provide a comprehensive set of free resources, including self-contained teaching notes, videos, and software codes to help people better understand economics and mathematics. The website is a work in progress. If you have any comments or suggestions then feel free to contact us!
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is nicely captured by the following passage from a lecture on Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life by one of my greatest mentors Alan Watts (despite the fact that he died 16 years before I was born) :
“Now, we come here, right at the start, to an extremely important principle, which is the different points of view you get when you change your level of magnification. That is, to say you can look at something with a microscope and see it a certain way; you can look at it with the naked eye and see it in a certain way; you can look at it with a telescope and you can see it in another way. Now, which level of magnification is the correct one? Well, obviously they are all correct. They’re just different points of view.“
I love this passage. As a teacher, it highlights the fact that we are all different when it comes to learning. With this quote in mind, I always try and understand the questions that people ask. Also, when teaching core concepts, I try to provide examples and explanations that allow the student to view them from different perspectives. An unavoidable cost arises in this approach: by aiming to provide multiple ways of thinking, I often have to sacrifice parsimony for a lengthy discussion. I understand that this may not be to everyone’s taste, but in light of personal experience, I have come to realise that this teaching style reaches the majority of people.