9

In our department, something is growing up into the darkness. A dark power which seduces my colleagues and their students one by one and leads them into the shadow. Those whose hearts are corrupted by this culture try to prove their research field is the best and deepest field of mathematics, The Lord of the Fields! All around the department, these students and teachers try to disparage the research fields of their colleagues in their discussions and lectures implicitly and explicitly. Analysts against Algebraists, Algebraists against Topologists, pure mathematicians against applied mathematicians and so on. This phenomenon really harms the scientific development of our institute and restricts the possible joint works between researchers in different fields. Also, it prevents students from seeing mathematics as a whole and using the tools of a particular field in another one.

Fortunately there are some researchers in our department who resist this culture. Recently I asked them to participate in an upcoming council to decide on the possible policies which could help us to overcome this situation.

Question. What can we do to overcome the lord of the fields dark culture? How can a teacher teach his/her students to appreciate all fields of mathematics regardless of their beloved research area? How can he/she convince his/her colleagues to stop poisoning their students by this culture?

  • 3
    I like the question, but I you shold change the title to something more intuitiv. But I don't have a better concrete suggestion. – Markus Klein Apr 06 '14 at 13:19
  • 5
    Perhaps you could change the title to something like, "How can a math department encourage students to appreciate all subfields of mathematics?" – Jim Belk Apr 06 '14 at 14:00
  • 4
    Hand them swords, battle axes and flails; and let the great war of mathematical fields begin. –  Apr 06 '14 at 16:17
  • 3
    Category Theory -- One field to bind them. ;P – user1815 Apr 06 '14 at 17:30
  • 1
    @MichaelE2: You mean set theory, right? (Because category theory is nothing more than applied set theory...) –  Apr 06 '14 at 17:34
  • @LongJohnSilver I'm thinking, contrariwise, of the Category of Sets. – user1815 Apr 06 '14 at 17:46
  • 2
    For the "title of this post" please follow this meta post. –  Apr 06 '14 at 17:46
  • 1
    I've voted to close for "unclear what you're asking." I think the stylization of the post has gone overboard and whatever the content is has been lost among the style. – Chris Cunningham Apr 06 '14 at 19:43
  • But why would I lie to my students and tell them other fields are just as good as mine? – Alex Becker Apr 06 '14 at 19:53
  • 1
    @ChrisCunningham It seems clear to me. My question simply is: There are some math students and faculties in our department which disparage the research fields of their other colleagues. How can we stop them to do this or at least convince people that they are not true and mathematics is an inseparable whole? Please let me know if you think more information for clarification are necessary. I can add more details. –  Apr 06 '14 at 19:58
  • @AlexBecker Welcome to MESE, Alex! $\ddot\smile$ –  Apr 06 '14 at 20:00
  • 1
    @Saint Georg If your question "simply is: X" then (it is my opinion that) you should type X as your question instead of YZXABC, where Y, Z, A, B, and C are not your question. – Chris Cunningham Apr 06 '14 at 20:16
  • 1
    @ChrisCunningham I don't think so. I think to explain the subject X in an appropriate way I need at least an introduction A and an afterword B to discuss on the motivations, consequences and many other related aspects of the main question. The structure of a post is a complex of these parts. Something at least as complex as AXB. I think the simplest way to talk about a subject is not the best way necessarily. –  Apr 06 '14 at 20:23
  • @ChrisCunningham: I agree completely. If the question can actually be summarized so simply, then ... that is what the question deserves to be. – Brendan W. Sullivan Apr 06 '14 at 23:52
  • 2
    While I feel it was correct to close this question, I worry that one of our site's premier questioners may get discouraged by too much voting-to-close. I hope this does not happen, because in my opinion, the content of these questions is, on average, exceptionally high. – Chris Cunningham Apr 07 '14 at 15:35
  • @ChrisCunningham Thanks for your support, Chris. –  Apr 07 '14 at 19:12

1 Answers1

1

As an individual, I think one place to start is by learning about other fields than your own and teaching your students about the interconnectedness and interapplicability of mathematics. Perhaps, gradually, your influence on your colleagues will also grow.

One example of a crossover field, with applications within and beyond mathematics, is algebraic topology. See, for instance, the work of Robert Ghrist and numerous others.

J W
  • 4,654
  • 2
  • 22
  • 44
  • 1
    This reminds me of something one of my professors loved pointing out. There are equivalent theorems to the axiom of choice is things you'd usually see as completely different then set theory. His usual example was Tychonoff's Theorem. – ruler501 Apr 06 '14 at 17:20