Robert Low
@robjlow.bsky.social
Ex maths lecturer. Now classics postgrad (MA) @ClassicsWarwick. Also @RobJLow@mathstodon.xyz, mostly maths there. Mostly lurking for the moment, haven't yet given up on Twitter completely.
Pretty sure a substantial proportion of Americans (and Brits, for that matter) live in a dream version of their native country, where they've lived all their lives.
November 11, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Pretty sure a substantial proportion of Americans (and Brits, for that matter) live in a dream version of their native country, where they've lived all their lives.
Definitely on a mission from God.
November 11, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Definitely on a mission from God.
For equal amounts of 'oh, wow!', 'easy but wrong' trumps 'requiring thought but right'.
November 11, 2025 at 12:40 PM
For equal amounts of 'oh, wow!', 'easy but wrong' trumps 'requiring thought but right'.
He was probably the one the others were paying to take the notes.
November 11, 2025 at 12:08 PM
He was probably the one the others were paying to take the notes.
Played so fast he didn't notice it was the Odyssey, not the Iliad.
November 11, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Played so fast he didn't notice it was the Odyssey, not the Iliad.
I'm going to make the more charitable assumption, namely that this is a bit of light trolling.
November 10, 2025 at 3:48 PM
I'm going to make the more charitable assumption, namely that this is a bit of light trolling.
Only if their culture uses the Celsius rather than the Fahrenheit temperature scale.
November 9, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Only if their culture uses the Celsius rather than the Fahrenheit temperature scale.
I was staggered to find out that punctuation is seen as somehow aggressive. (Won't stop me either.)
November 9, 2025 at 2:47 PM
I was staggered to find out that punctuation is seen as somehow aggressive. (Won't stop me either.)
I remember at least one serious argument with an international admissions person trying to persuade me to accept an applicant with unacceptably low TEFL grades. "First year marks don't contribute to their degree classification, and they'll be fine by second year." (They didn't succeed.)
November 9, 2025 at 2:44 PM
I remember at least one serious argument with an international admissions person trying to persuade me to accept an applicant with unacceptably low TEFL grades. "First year marks don't contribute to their degree classification, and they'll be fine by second year." (They didn't succeed.)
Folklore is a bit of an issue - you kind of absorb it as a graduate student, but it can be a real barrier to people from outside the specific area. We need more people to write papers describing what 'everybody knows (but few people say out loud)'.
November 9, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Folklore is a bit of an issue - you kind of absorb it as a graduate student, but it can be a real barrier to people from outside the specific area. We need more people to write papers describing what 'everybody knows (but few people say out loud)'.
Second, I'm pretty sure they weren't keeping detailed records. Even if they weren't deliberately misleading, it's easy for a couple of detentions over a term to turn into 'I'm always in detention' when asked about it. 2/2
November 8, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Second, I'm pretty sure they weren't keeping detailed records. Even if they weren't deliberately misleading, it's easy for a couple of detentions over a term to turn into 'I'm always in detention' when asked about it. 2/2
My first reaction on seeing the article this is a response to was 'they just relied on self-reporting from the schoolkids?'.
First, a lot of the kids I was at school with would definitely have exaggerated to make themselves look tough. 1/2
First, a lot of the kids I was at school with would definitely have exaggerated to make themselves look tough. 1/2
November 8, 2025 at 8:46 PM
My first reaction on seeing the article this is a response to was 'they just relied on self-reporting from the schoolkids?'.
First, a lot of the kids I was at school with would definitely have exaggerated to make themselves look tough. 1/2
First, a lot of the kids I was at school with would definitely have exaggerated to make themselves look tough. 1/2
nonne pulchrum est ita putare?
November 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM
nonne pulchrum est ita putare?
Ah, now I understand why I'm seeing to many posts about how Franklin was really the sole discoverer of the structure of DNA and was robbed by Crick and Watson. (Poor old Wilkins seems to get no sympathy though... Can't imagine why.)
November 8, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Ah, now I understand why I'm seeing to many posts about how Franklin was really the sole discoverer of the structure of DNA and was robbed by Crick and Watson. (Poor old Wilkins seems to get no sympathy though... Can't imagine why.)
And still playing whack-a-mole with "The society that separates its scholars ... fools," I see.
November 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
And still playing whack-a-mole with "The society that separates its scholars ... fools," I see.
It's much easier to manage without something if you don't have any use for it, eh?
November 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
It's much easier to manage without something if you don't have any use for it, eh?
In maths/physics, it's 'clearly' followed by a statement that needs a calculation requiring a whole pad of paper to justify.
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM
In maths/physics, it's 'clearly' followed by a statement that needs a calculation requiring a whole pad of paper to justify.
Yes. But think I'd rather think about procedural competence and (or even as opposed to) understanding. Not that my preference really matters, of course: I'm just grizzling about some terminology i don't like 😬
November 6, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Yes. But think I'd rather think about procedural competence and (or even as opposed to) understanding. Not that my preference really matters, of course: I'm just grizzling about some terminology i don't like 😬
I think that the problem is that the word 'conceptual' is doing nothing except causing confusion. In what sense is 'conceptual understanding' different from 'understanding' (which I thought had *something* to do with concepts before I ever heard of 'conceptual understanding')?
November 6, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I think that the problem is that the word 'conceptual' is doing nothing except causing confusion. In what sense is 'conceptual understanding' different from 'understanding' (which I thought had *something* to do with concepts before I ever heard of 'conceptual understanding')?
They're not the only ones.
November 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
They're not the only ones.
Ooh, I have a converse: I was taught algebra by an analyst, who hadn't taught it before, and whose opening shot was 'I keep hearing that students find this topic hard. I can't see why, I read the textbook over the summer and it all seemed quite straightforward to me'.
November 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Ooh, I have a converse: I was taught algebra by an analyst, who hadn't taught it before, and whose opening shot was 'I keep hearing that students find this topic hard. I can't see why, I read the textbook over the summer and it all seemed quite straightforward to me'.
That said, I'd have been very, very worried if I'd been called upon to teach first year statistics (as opposed to spending a few sessions on probability and the normal distribution for engineers).
2/2
2/2
November 6, 2025 at 9:38 AM
That said, I'd have been very, very worried if I'd been called upon to teach first year statistics (as opposed to spending a few sessions on probability and the normal distribution for engineers).
2/2
2/2
They assume that if it's out of your specialism you're just reading out some notes without understanding... (What's that 'projection' thing again?)
1/2
1/2
November 6, 2025 at 9:38 AM
They assume that if it's out of your specialism you're just reading out some notes without understanding... (What's that 'projection' thing again?)
1/2
1/2