My Grandfather owned and operated an auto repair business. He repaired just about anything that ceased to operate for one reason or the other, including antique clocks. He was a high school dropout. Yet, he had a brilliant mathematical mind. He used to amuse himself with long algebraic equations as if they were parlor tricks. When I was a kid, I watched he and my Dad having a showdown of dueling equations; Granddad and his slide rule versus Dad and his Hewlitt Packard calculator. Granddad was a ninja on that thing. And he would win every time. At that point in life, Granddad had passed down the auto repair business to my uncle when he accepted a job to teach welding and applied industrial mathematics at the local state technical school. What I didn't know until after he died, he did go back, get his GED, then went to college so he could teach. He earned his BS in mathematics from Auburn University --that was after my Dad went there. He loved math. He loved learning. He just hated school. And as a young man, hated being told what to do. Maybe that's why he was such an effective teacher. He understood that most of his students struggled in high school abd the motivation behind it.
I always wonder how people like the grandfather would fear if they were given a proper education. They are already brilliant, so would that brilliance be nurtured with schooling or stifled?
I think most people only respond to what interests them. Trigonometry doesn't interest a huge chunk of the population, grammar isn't for another chunk.
My Grandfather owned and operated an auto repair business. He repaired just about anything that ceased to operate for one reason or the other, including antique clocks. He was a high school dropout. Yet, he had a brilliant mathematical mind. He used to amuse himself with long algebraic equations as if they were parlor tricks. When I was a kid, I watched he and my Dad having a showdown of dueling equations; Granddad and his slide rule versus Dad and his Hewlitt Packard calculator. Granddad was a ninja on that thing. And he would win every time. At that point in life, Granddad had passed down the auto repair business to my uncle when he accepted a job to teach welding and applied industrial mathematics at the local state technical school. What I didn't know until after he died, he did go back, get his GED, then went to college so he could teach. He earned his BS in mathematics from Auburn University --that was after my Dad went there. He loved math. He loved learning. He just hated school. And as a young man, hated being told what to do. Maybe that's why he was such an effective teacher. He understood that most of his students struggled in high school abd the motivation behind it.
So true...
Truth.
The backstory is always interesting.
Brilliant writing!
Beautiful.
Lovely storytelling
My grandpa wasn't illiterate, but he sure did like tooling around with cars.
I always wonder how people like the grandfather would fear if they were given a proper education. They are already brilliant, so would that brilliance be nurtured with schooling or stifled?
I think most people only respond to what interests them. Trigonometry doesn't interest a huge chunk of the population, grammar isn't for another chunk.