> I will not be told I shouldn't teach what I love with all my heart -
> no matter what 'Ivory Tower' it comes down from.
I hope that this angry response wasn't the result of my contribution.
In case it was, let me explain that I certainly don't regard myself as
handing down dictates from on high to the lowly workers in the field.
I won't enter any competitions involving the exact degree of passion
I or others have for either mathematics or its history, but maybe if I
did I'd have a good chance. I merely expressed my considered view that
mathematical history was best taught inside courses on the mathematics
it's about rather than in specialized courses on mathematical history only.
I mentioned the fact that I'd taught such courses both in Cambridge and
in Princeton by way of showing that I was qualified to have such an
opinion, and that it applied to the students I'd had in both those places.
I'll close with two remarks:
1) in my own teaching I ALWAYS include historical comments
2) there's no need for you to be so damned sensitive!
John Conway