Grappling has always been Pat McDonald's forte - whether it's with a wrestling partner or a differential equation. The wisdom he gleans from his practice of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu transcends the martial arts arena, and gives a philosophical edge to his classroom teaching and scholarly work.
"I learned a lesson about fundamentals in wrestling before I really ever learned it in academics," the New College Professor of Mathematics explains. "If you're willing to lie to yourself about fundamental preparation, in the end you're going to get thrashed. It turns out that it's even more true when it comes to academics."
Since high school, McDonald has been cultivating his passion for athletics, but it wasn't until late college that he found his current educational discipline. After enduring several "uniformly terrible" math teachers, McDonald said his taste for the subject was sapped. It was his tenth grade wrestling coach who taught him true perseverance, which he later applied to his studies and now instills in his students.
"There's kind of a social stigma against saying, 'I can't speak the English language or I can't read - I just never got it,'" he says. "But sadly there's no real stigma against saying 'I don't know anything about math.' And that's too bad. It's so much more than just numbers."
