[MisterBastahrd]

I have a feeling that the intellect gap at a lot of universities isn't as profound as one would expect and that one of the reasons that the students of the best unis do so well is because their educators can actually explain the course material. You can do more when you've got to spend less cognitive energy on trying to piece together the hieroglyphic puzzle that lesser professors throw at you because they believe they're too important to teach.

[caddemon]

A lot of the top universities have majority of their profs caring almost exclusively about research though. I think MIT is (or at least was) a bit of an exception, where there was enough of a critical mass of profs that cared about teaching. Can't say the same for a couple other "top" unis I've spent time at.

[frakt0x90]

Yes I've heard that as well. For example I heard 2nd hand that Andrew Wiles at Princeton, who famously solved Fermat's last theorem, is a brilliant researcher but a terrible professor.

I had a math professor from Dartmouth who told me that Dartmouth really emphasized teaching in their phd program and he was indeed an exceptional teacher. I wish that was emphasized more, or they separate hardcore researchers from the teachers.

[etrautmann]

It’s a good point, although Princeton in general places a higher emphasis on undergraduate teaching than a number of other top research universities, so that example might be idiosyncratic if true.

The emphasis on teaching in a PhD program may not have much bearing on the quality of undergraduate teaching at a university, though it might be indicative of a culture or spirit.

[fsckboy]

i find that in general (not always) the smarter people are, the better they understand precisely what you don't know, and what you need to know to understand what they are trying to tell you

it's a bit like the old "the more I know, the more I know I don't know" but with an addition of "the more I know exactly what I know, and exactly what I don't" and it's then applied via theory-of-mind, "the more I know precisely what I can teach you"

[tuxguy]

one related quote i really like is : "it takes a lot of knowledge to realize the extent of your own ignorance" :D

[kevviiinn]

I would have to agree with this. In all my time in school I've had terrible and amazing professors, the difference in the amount I learned was generally due to their ability to explain the subject in a way that was easy to understand. I also credit the MIT open courseware chemistry lectures for helping me through uni, because that professor was one of the not so great ones at my school