What Made Some of My Teachers and Professors Great

Time well spent…

Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

My first, great teacher was our homeroom and shop teacher in junior high. That was largely because he went beyond his required duties to help several of us. He thought we could succeed with more advanced math and so he taught a group of us, separately, essentially for no pay. It’s never been my best subject, but I never forgot his generosity.

My second, great teacher was an extraordinary history professor visiting from University of Chicago. I was at Emory University, where, I was a history major. He had established a new motive for the western migration, an enthusiasm to develop major, American cities. If you think about the fanatics that root for the Kansas City Chiefs or the LA Lakers, you get his drift. We deeply care about our major cities blessed with big economies, much inventiveness, the arts and major sports. I never forgot and never disagreed with…

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Cutting Through It

“We learn by example and by direct experience because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.” Malcolm Gladwell, renowned Canadian author. 

Verbal only goes so far for me. Software manuals only go so far for me. I fiddle with new software, exploring how it might work through direct experience. 

It’s fun. It’s enough to get cracking.

My instincts work better than reason when bumbling around with a new app. But, I know the software designers could only offer so many options for a task. 

So far I have yet to wipe out an application, a cellphone, or a tablet, experimenting. Makes an otherwise rote experience a lot less dull. 

Dull just doesn’t cut it with blades, books, blogs or software. Right?