I am amazed how one can teach a subject with such enthusiasm for 60 years and never get bored of it. Hats off to Prof Strang for kindling in me the love for mathematics.
Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
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Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#32Unless they were absolutely terrible, professors received a standing ovation at the end of the quarter. Feel like this is tradition, no?
At Brown it was common to applaud at the end of the last lecture of the semester, which I always thought was nice, but usually not a standing ovation. Haven't seen it elsewhere.
Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#33Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#34Unless they were absolutely terrible, professors received a standing ovation at the end of the quarter. Feel like this is tradition, no?
Either you are grossly exaggerating this phenomenon, or this is some cultural outcome that no one downstream seems to understand where it's from, regardless of university.
The OP at first glance seems to be pushing an incorrect assertion ("standing ovation common at end of quarter unless professor was terrible"). I am slightly amused that over half the current set of comments to this entire article is bewilderment and confusion caused by taking the OP seriously.
Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Unless they were absolutely terrible, professors received a standing ovation at the end of the quarter. I guess I'll be the first one to point out that I never witnessed anything like that.
It was common at my university (US).
Which American university is it normal for students, as a group, to stand up and applaud the professor in a standing ovation at the end of each quarter unless the professor was absolutely terrible?
Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#36I learned Linear Algebra from the 2nd Edition of Strang 30 years ago. I just started re-learning it with the 6th Edition. He has been refining the presentation over the years and keeping it current with applications (now there are machine learning chapters). It would be so easy to fall into a rut teaching this subject year after year, but he has kept it fresh through his obvious joy in teaching. I’m very grateful we…
> through his obvious joy in teaching
He clearly is passionate about teaching. The way he respects his students and try to lift them to his level instead of bombarding them with maths. He's clearly here to teach and not select.
It's incredible the value we loose by having bad teachers. And my personal experience was that the higher you get in the educational system the worst the teachers.
For this, internet is a godsend and Strang was one of the earlier adopter of that medium.
Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#37Unless they were absolutely terrible, professors received a standing ovation at the end of the quarter. Feel like this is tradition, no?
One time a single student clapped a few times at the end of my one of my TA sessions, and it really made my day! I was a TA for many classes during my Physics PhD program, and this bit of clapping was a singular occurrence, in the middle of the semester. I’ve never been a course lecturer though, that was always for faculty.
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Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#38I took a linear algebra class in high school and we used two textbooks for the class. One gave a simple and soft presentation which we used most of the time. The other one was much more rigorous, referred to in hushed and fearful tones simply as "Strang". When I got to university, I realized with fear and excitement that the guy teaching the linear algebra class is the same guy who wrote the textbook we were all afraid of in high school. His lectures are excellent. Just as clear and rigorous as the book, but not at all scary. Just like Strang himself.
Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#39Since the article doesn’t mention it: He’s presently 88 years old.
Re: Students give Gilbert Strang a standing ovation after his last lecture
#40Strang also taught courses on machine learning, differential equations and engineering math that are available on OCW.