In 2 weeks, my advanced school will be celebrating its 70th anniversary. On this occasion, I was asked to compose the memories below:
I started my education in Jose Marti in 1970, a small earlier than Gomulka left and Gierek came. The manager at the time was Vincenty Bather (WŁ), who became our math teacher.
I remember 1 of the first lessons with him in the first class. He gave me a occupation to solve on the board, and I had no thought how to do it. He didn't give me a 2 (there wasn't yet), but he asked me to seriously consider whether I was fit for the math class. He did not call me a “Soviet dove” due to the fact that that's what he utilized to describe little volatile students (although he belonged to the Polish United Workers' Party), but he was not happy.
The way in which sick was taught from the very beginning was absolutely brilliant. He gave us to solve our elder tasks, and we were expected to solve them utilizing boards and any books. As a result, 3 students (including me) from my class converted the 4th grade advanced school program in just over six months. We could have had a advanced school math degree.
What about the remainder of your friends?
They besides had good grades, although at any point WŁ discovered that the grades from the classrooms corresponded to the distance in the seat from these 3 Students. I remember doing my homework in 15 minutes, and then I was doing the distribution of the cheats for the Others. The closer individual sat me down, the more chance he had of getting an A (six was gone).
If WŁ continued his superb way of teaching in the following years, I would most likely have reached the Nobel Prize. Unfortunately, the wonderfully promising mathematical education was destroyed by parents on interviews. For so long, they criticized WŁ until it "was lost" and taught traditionally for 3 consecutive years.
However, this first year of teaching resulted in the fact that for the next 3 years I did not gotta do mathematics from the advanced school program, but I could do homework from the mathematical Olympiads. I frequently did 1 occupation for 2 weeks and sometimes longer. I did them, of course, in mathematics classes with the approval of WŁ, but besides in geography, biology, Polish, and another equally interesting lessons. I think any Teachers of these subjects have seen that I “do not care” Their lessons, but they knew I was the Director's pet and they preferred to leave me alone.
However, in my class, I did not only math, but besides homework. I did biology in geography, in Russian biology, in Russian geography. I had to do this due to the fact that after school we had to play football for 2 hours (also in winter) and then I returned around 16th for dinner, and at 5 p.m. I got on a bus and drove for a two-hour swim training at the Youth Palace. I got home before 10:00, had dinner, and... sat down for math.
My education resulted in me getting into the final of the Mathematical Olympiad, and I had admission to college without an exam. I chose physics at the University of Warsaw, having absolutely no thought about student life.
Three things turned out at the University: i) that I was immediately called to represent the University in swimming and football, ii) that student life is much happier than advanced school, iii) that mathematics and physics know much better Gottwald graduates (now Staszica) than Jose Marti. The consequence of these 3 things was that I became a three-year student. It sounds bad, but the college started with 160 people, and after the first year, there were 90 left. It's up to 50 by the end.
In the following years, I was getting better and better grades, although there was a prof. from Quantum Physics who wondered on the oral exam whether to buy me 4+ or 5 (sixths were not there at the time). However, he was curious in why I did not take the exam on the first time. I showed him the paper signed by the rector that I was released from the first word due to the University Polish Swimming Championship. “Oh, he’s an athlete!” said the prof. and wrote me on the 3rd Index. It was not easy being an athlete in the Physics Department.
After my studies, I started working at the Institute of advanced force of the Polish Academy of Sciences. To this day, I work there, but I spent quite a few time working abroad - in France, Italy, Germany, the USA. I did my doctorate, then habilitation, became a professor, a studio manager. I've dealt with and dealt with an crucial area of our lives, due to the fact that semiconductors without which there would be no electronics. I go to conferences in China, Japan, America, I have friends in almost all civilized country, The European Union calls on me as an expert to measure and implement investigation ideas. My colleagues and I started a company that produces laser diodes. More than 45 years of a very interesting life, which most likely wouldn't have been if my teacher Vincenty Bath did not make a large experimentation that maths don't request to be taught - you just gotta let students learn it themselves.
Michał Leszczyński
