INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / MAY 30, 1989

 

 

 

 

faculty profiles faculty profiles faculty profiles faculty

 

Inside Profile - Al Harms, Math
Instructor, Positive Thinker

An eye-catching poster hangs
proudly on the wall of Al Harm’s
Douglas College office. It clearly
expresses positive thinking on a
subject about which many people
have less-than-positive feelings.

The poster reads: “I enjoy math.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am good at math. I do my math as-
signments regularly.”

Harms, a 54-year-old instructor
who’s been with Douglas College
since 1970, teaches algebra, cal-
culus and a course in physics.

Like his poster, Harms stresses
affirmative thinking, a philosophy
he takes into the classroom. He in-
sists that people who fear math can
get over this feeling and exercise
mathematical ability.

“The first thing is accepting that
you can,” he says.

Harms believes fear of math
reflects not a lack of intelligence or
any sort of scholastic ineptitude,
but instead an underlying problem.

“It’s not math per se, it’s
psychological,” he says. The prob-
lem is often rooted in a past
experience. For example, when a
child is made to feel less than
capable with mathematics in
elementary school, this bad ex-
perience, unfortunately, can be
carried a long way over the years."

The first step in conquering the
fear of math is to believe in your-
self and your capabilities, says
Harms.

His model for instructors who
are trying to help students believe
in themselves, is Jaime Escalante, a
high school math teacher in East
Los Angeles, who worked at an
inner-city school where the stu-
dents were from predominately

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hispanic lower-income back-
grounds. The school had a 50 per
cent drop-out rate.

Against all odds, Escalante -
whose story was portrayed in the
movie Stand and Deliver - success-
fully taught calculus to a group of
Latinos, through largely encourag-
ing, but always unorthodox
methods.

In essence, Escalante’s
philosophy was one of “give me
students who want to learn, and
they can.”

Harms couldn’t agree more.

He says tackling the mysteries of
mathematics provides students with
a strong challenge. “I like to think
that wrestling with algebra and cal-

continued on page 4