Hello from NZ

[evening-calm]

I am a recent subscriber to the City Tutoring Youtube Channels. The videos speak to me at a level in which thoughts that I had long had finally found expression, and clarity, and precision in ways that in many instances I had glimpses of but couldn't fully put my finger on.

Since my pre-teen years I felt utterly disillusioned by my secondary school education. I was sit in the back of the class silently writing code on paper until I could get home to the family computer to compile and debug it. I quickly fell down a rabbit hole which led to pure mathematics.

My secondary school teachers were condescending. There were no chatbots, and university lectures and materials online in the dial up days so the public library's collection of "Schaum's Outlines" textbooks were a refuge to actually learn topics. I built up an image in my mind of university - that if I could just grind out my teens - at university I'd be free.

It would take until part way through my second year to shatter this.

Credentialism, Post-Modernism, a total lack of intellectual curiosity and mere regurgitation of allowed slogans, the suffocating retarding of free speech and other liberties, utter contempt of engagement with substance; I was crestfallen and haven't really recovered since. The one place I built up in my heart as the place I could become and exist as a mathematician was swiftly becoming the single most impossible place to do so.

I dropped out and tried to start a small tech business while I worked various hospitality, though it was humbling to try to build a business from first principles.

A recent reduction in cleaning hours has made the cost of living almost impossible now and I pondered the idea for a "Maths Cafe". A regular cafe except I'd have a whiteboard there and I could build a small school of mathematics.

The most peculiar observation of the last 10 years since dropping out of my degree is the number of also non-credentialed or otherwise academic-type people who took an interest in my talks about maths. I never expected praise or curiosity but rather to be told to shut up about maths. The beauty I thought was available to everyone in the rigour of mathematics would be appreciated in its purity.

I looked to Youtube for guidance on starting such an academy, and I found City Tutoring. A shockingly strong overlap.

Also, I had never considered my Catholic upbringing in any way related to my love of mathematics though after now several of the Sunday Messages, I am starting to wonder if perhaps the path to mathematics as truth was something larger than just my temperamental curiosity for the subject.

I look forward to participating in this forum.

[justcruising]

Wow, NZ! I've always wondered how life must be there but based on what you're saying, sounds a lot like the US. Unfortunately I think at least in the US anything like a maths cafe would fail, not because there aren't people into it, but because our corporate run society won't tolerate anything that doesn't involve making a lot of money.

Do you actually teach Math though? I've had friends who had Cromwell as a math instructor but I feel a student like myself would not do well in such a tough environment.

[evening-calm]

We're a very pretty retirement village. Wealthy retirees bring foreign cash in and buy up nice houses. There is virtually no point in trying to build anything. If you play the game you can live a somewhat nice life providing professional services to cultural rent seekers or work some managerial job.

I haven't taught since I tutored my peers and juniors in university if I'm reading the word 'teach' with formality like a scheduled class with specific learning outcomes like 'today we're going to develop the notion of the limit of a sequence', as opposed to more high level 'lectures' that cover a topic but don't require you to solve problems, receive corrections and feedback, and retry until you understand.

I'm really jealous of you though. I would love to spend some time at City Tutoring. I don't need to learn basic mathematics again, but I strongly suspect that Mr. Cromwell's pedagogy is very similar to my own albeit more firm and no-nonsense whereas I may be more lenient in my demeanour though I would remain the same level of firm in not diluting the rigour required.

How would you place your mathematics at the moment?

[StudentDriver]

Hi! I too fell into a pure math rabbit hole. Will be sharing insights on this forum. Please Tell us more about ur math experience!