Courtney Gibbons graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics after failing pre-algebra in the 7th grade.
She is now an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY. She does research on commutative algebra and says if you find math challenging, that’s a good thing!
You could be a mathematician if you gave yourself a chance!
Here is some of what Dr. Gibbons had to say about her experiences with math:
…I did okay [in math class]. But I felt like it was a struggle. I felt like I didn’t automatically know how to do all the problems. I’d have to go back and look at examples, and go and get help. And I saw people sailing through this class, seemingly effortless…
…so [now] I’m taking differential equations, and secretly kind liking it, but again there’s people that are just sailing through and it’s just effortless for them. I’m like, Why is this hard for me? Why do I have to do all this extra work to get through it? This must mean I’m not a math person.
…I took a bunch of math classes and you know what? I don’t care that it doesn’t come as easily for me because this is really fun. I like these puzzles. I like the feeling of triumph when I struggle and overcome this thing.
…I started to notice that there were parts of math I was good at, but I’d been telling myself for so long that I’m not a math person that I wasn’t even able to see that I was actually good at some of this stuff.
…later…I get to the part of grad school where you stop taking classes and start doing research. And for me it was…realizing that being stuck in class had prepared me for being stuck in research. A lot of those people that I had watched in grad school sail through classes suddenly get to research and they’re like What?!?
…some of them left grad school. And I thought those were the people who were good at math. But it turns out that being good at math is actually being good at being stuck.
…what I mean is…being stuck and thinking: Okay, I’m stuck. What’s the next step? I’m going to find an example. I’m going to think about this from a different perspective. I’m going to talk to somebody about this. I’m going to see what’s out there that I don’t know that I could learn about, that can help me.
…it turned out that all that time I had been stuck in classes and trying to figure out how learn in these classes, those were the tools I needed to be a mathematician.
…All that time figuring out how to learn math that I didn’t know and also pushing the edge of my own ignorance, that’s what research is. It’s just that you’re pushing the boundary of everybody’s ignorance, so you might be stuck for longer.
…These feelings that you have of not being good at math - what you’re feeling is the uncomfortable feeling of practicing what it takes to be good at math. The being stuck, the getting unstuck, the admitting that you don’t know something, which can sometimes be really scary…
…For those of you … who have said things like I’m not good at math, or I see people do it a lot faster, or just generally I don’t know if this is for me: if you have fun doing it, if you like doing it, it’s for you! If you like it enough that you don’t mind the feeling of being stuck, it’s for you.
That’s what it takes to be a mathematician. That’s it!
I hope you hear this from me as a person now who has a PhD in math and a masters in math and a bachelor’s in math. And is a tenured professor of mathematics who has had National Science Foundation money to conduct research in math - who still sometimes feels the way you do:
Doing math is being stuck. If you are in modern algebra - or in any math class - and you feel like you’ve been stuck, Welcome! Welcome my people. Math is for you!