Social Media

A lot of thought went into my name on twitter and Instagram accounts. I thought it might be a bit pretentious to use my professional title of Professor Epstein rather than Allen Epstein (or AllenEpstein27 since there are many Allen Epsteins). When I taught math, because the subject matter is considered so formal, I went by whatever name a student considered more comfortable for them to learn. My ego was not as important as not scaring the hell out of them with a title that stopped them dead in their tracks before they even started to learn.

So, to not be “everybody” in social media, I needed to stand out. Hence @prof_epstein (for twitter) and prof.epstein (for Instagram). At least many people would think, “I’ve tried everything else to learn this subject, and miserably failed. Here’s a guy who seems like he has a background, let’s see if he can do the impossible!” Actually, after 45 years in the biz, I’ve done just that! Thousands of times. But it’s not me who I’m promoting – it’s the teachers who have the same passion for teaching and who make sense to you. Add the prizes you could win for following their advice and, presto, any subject becomes easier.

I’ve won lots of awards as voted on by the students – which means much more to me than an arbitrary vote of my fellow professors or the choice from the head of an institution. The students are the reasons those of us who choose to teach get into the profession. Their success in my classes that led to greater achievement in life is more important than a certificate to hang on a wall. My desire was not for all of humanity to go into math or some related field, but for most to be successful in any field that made them happy and paid the bills. And never to be afraid of the math that may be a part of any field or trade they chose.

If you give me a chance with the system that I’ve worked on to be as close to perfection for everyone who has trouble in learning, this could be your lucky day. Think of it this way: If you’re hopelessly lost and if you start from the beginning where you don’t need to know much of anything, how much easier could that be? If that happens, does it really matter if I’m “Prof. Epstein” or just plain “Allen”?