A PERSONAL VIGNETTE 37

The following is a personal vignette from yesteryear. I have told this story to my grandchildren as it illustrates what I believe is a useful moral or two:

In 1966 after being transferred to the Geophysical Services Laboratory in Dallas, TX from my initial Mobil Oil assignment in Libya, North Africa I joined a group doing geophysical testing and research. The other members of this small group had either PhD’s or Master Degrees in science and since I had only an undergraduate degree in geological engineering, I reasoned that I would benefit from expanding my formal mathematics education. Therefore I enrolled in night school at Southern Methodist University. Even though I had been out of school for 10 years I was impatience to immediately take advanced mathematics courses, so instead of taking a review course in calculus, I started with a course called Advanced Calculus.

There was a problem from the outset. I was studying from not only the course textbook, but also from two calculus books, an algebra book, and a trigonometry book. Mathematical theories, formulae, and principles easily slip from one’s memory. On the first test I received an F. And this was not just a run-of-the-mill F. It was a low F; call it an F-. My next test score was better – it was an F+; the third was a D. Naturally my mid-term grade was an F. At this point, after recovering from the shock (I was an A student in mathematics in high school and B student in college which was not bad in an engineering school), I figured it was time to talk to the professor.

In the next class after the mid-term grades came out, the professor, anticipating our concerns, told us he knew many of us had been out of school for 10 to 15 years and were struggling. He said if we kept getting better scores on the tests he would discount the earlier scores, but if we were up and down on each test, he would have no choice other than to weight each test equally. I and the rest of the students thought that was fair.

Mobil Oil would pay for the course tuition, but only if I passed, and much more importantly my final grade would be sent to my supervisor. It would certainly not help my career if I did not receive a respectable grade. However, I was reasonably confident that I could keep getting better test scores and indeed I did. On the next three tests I received a C, C+, and B. On the final test I received a C+ and so my final grade was a solid C.

Intrepidly, I took the next semester continuation of Advanced Calculus from the same professor and received a B-. My third mathematics course at SMU was called Probability and Statistics taught by a graduate student. There was something about this subject that I found much easier to comprehend than the arcane principles of advanced calculus. Queuing Theory and the Rule of Bayes-Laplace, or as it is also called the inverse probability theorem, are logical and easier to follow than trying to grasp the advanced calculus concept of poles in a complex plane. C’est pas?

Not only did I get an A in the course, but of the circa 30 people in the class I received the top grade. A fellow Mobil Oil employee I knew, although had never worked with, received a B. He told me now he knew why I was a supervisor and he was not.

The graduate student instructor was not only an outstanding teacher, but a great guy as well. He had done consulting work for an oil exploration company and he explained to us that lease block bids fit nicely on a log-log plot – valuable information for any oil exploration company interested in oil/gas lease blocks.

There is a saying, aphorism, cliché, or whatever you want to call it, that you should quit when you are ahead. I did not follow that sound advice. For a fourth course I took linear algebra. My luck ran out in getting good teachers. This SMU professor apparently had psychological problems. At any rate he seemed determined to make the course material and tests as abstract and difficult as he could. I actually did not know what final grade I would get beyond knowing it would be somewhere between a D and a B. Most of the students were as mystified as I was. We only knew that he marked on a curve so one’s final grade depended upon its relative to the other scores in the class.

Late in the course one of the students told the professor, in front of the class, that he was a poor teacher. The professor responded incredulously, “I am a poor teacher?” I never knew what the motive was of that student, whom I had talked to a few times. He may have given up getting a passing grade by then or perhaps he was just the type of impulsive person who says what he thinks - the consequences be damned. After that I cowardly or wisely, depending upon your perspective, refrained from being seen talking to him in view of the professor. I received a C in the course.

What are the moral precepts of this story? (1.) It may sound trite, but whatever endeavor you are engaged in, always give it your best effort and do not get discouraged if you initially fail. There is no guarantee that you will eventually succeed, but if you quit you will always fail. (2.) When someone tells you of their successes, be it in financial investing, job achievements, academics, or whatever, ask them about their failures. If they can not come up with any tell them you just remembered that you have something important to do – you have to watch the grass on your lawn grow. Unless they are stone-stupid they will get it.