Teach Me How To Think, Professor by Michael

Teach Me How To Think, Professor by Michael - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

College. The sculpting table for the clay that is the student mind. It is where people learn to think, analyze, persevere through difficult classes, and develop into useful members of society. Calculus. The hated class in the universally hated subject of math. I have decided that there is no better class than calculus that I can use to teach future generations how to be successful individuals.

One reason I would want to teach calculus is because of the critical thinking that it involves. Many students from grade school to college ask their math professor, “When am I ever going to use this in life?”; never pausing to look past the sines and cosines on their papers. The answer to this question is simple; you may not use the actual math concepts in everyday life, but you will need the problem analysis and thinking patterns involved in calculus in any successful future that you picture yourself in. If you want to be a clothes designer, you will need to calculate how much money you will charge for each clothing article, the changing of styles, and the rate at which you will increase your prices due to their rising popularity. Even fishermen know when tides come and go, which, if it was graphed, matches a sine function. If students learn to critically think in calculus, they will be prosperous individuals in society. In today’s world, common sense seems to be becoming less and less common. If I were to teach, I would want to teach calculus in order to shape my students into intellectual, and rational human beings.

Teaching calculus in college would also allow me to encourage and support students that do not believe in their own capabilities. If a college cruelly requires students to take calculus as a “weeder course” for their major, I would be the one to guide them through it. Yes; calculus is a tough subject and not easy to pass, but if they have a professor that is willing to tutor them and be patient with slower students, the students will be more confident not only in math, but in other aspects of their life. Confidence and determination are necessary in succeeding in calculus and in every difficult situation that one might encounter. If students have a mindset of perseverance, they will grow into successful people. This being the case, I would be an integral part of their development into prosperous individuals and assets to society. The future should not be left in the hands of undetermined, lazy people. If I could change the mindset of students, I would do so through calculus.

I would also teach calculus simply because I love math and its complex simplicities. Calculus and all high level math courses involve simple math concepts applied to complex, real-life situations. If I taught calculus, I would have the ambitious math majors who are up for any new challenge and share the same love for math that I have. I could teach them new ways to think about math and manipulate equations. Teaching this subject would allow me to benefit my students as well as participate in something that I love.

Thinking, analyzing, and perseverance are essential to living a successful, productive life. Calculus teaches all of these and shapes individuals in ways that are vital to future success. Because of this, and the the fact that math is the greatest subject of all time, I would be a college calculus professor.