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There's also a useful version of such critical remarks which can be made. One wants two things: (a) remarks which help people understand their own potential better; and (b) remarks which help people better understand what's involved in working in a particular field.
My interlocutors failed badly at both (a) and (b). In fact, it's clear they had no real data on (b) at all. And their judgement of (a) was perhaps distorted because I wasn't (to put it mildly) a respectful, obedient, easy-to-handle student.
I should add: I also had many remarkably encouraging mentors (Gerard Milburn, Ben Schumacher, Carl Caves, Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, and many more)
Were you not a great student in undergrad?
I was a good student (in the sense of: I got good grades). But people make judgements on many bases. The academic advisor was well intentioned. But I didn't fit his model of what a physicist should be, in ways I now realize were irrelevant.
That’s so strange. I’ve found advisors to judge solely on the basis of grades for both kinds of majors. Do you have any idea on what basis they thought you wouldn’t be a good physicist?
"there is no good reason to tell a student she doesn’t belong in math. That’s the student’s decision. Not yours. You see the snapshot of her progress, but you don’t see her trajectory. You can’t know how she will grow and flourish in the future. But you can help her get there."
Those were from comments from a speech by former AMA president, Francis Su. https://mathyawp.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/mathematics-for-human-flourishing/ … An eloquent antidote to people who have a weed out mentality or those who want to tell people they are not cut out for something.
Lots of good stories in there. "you should give forthright counsel to students about skills they might need to develop further if they want to go on in mathematics, but if you see mathematics as a means to help them flourish, why wouldn’t you encourage them to take more math?"
I taught a lot of college, and I'm frankly baffled by these kinds of predictions. People in general can change rapidly, and 0 – 24 year olds particularly rapidly. These kinds of predictions are nuts.
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