Rhubarb

How will this go? Will it be funny? Will it be serious? Will it be about the mysterious timber delivery that is currently roaming the country apparently at random, never to arrive at its ultimate destination? No, that last one would be too mean. Instead, this can be about the perils of never having time to think about rhubarb. Yes, yes, we all know about the dangers of not having time to think things through and form actions instead of reactions, but the risks involved in disregarding rhubarb are far more devastating.

For one thing, disregarding and neglecting the word 'rhubarb' robs you of one of the most famously amusing words in history. Yes, 'rutabaga' is pretty good too (the common swede to those of us who live outside the United States Of America), but 'rhubarb' has a great theatrical tradition behind it. It's a mighty and historical noun. Just saying 'rhubarb' is enough to build internal energy and summon resolve for the day ahead. On the other hand, it may just be a funny root that is used in some desserts. You take your pick and make your choice.

Apparently, and this may be apocryphal, extras often said 'rhubarb' over and over to make convincing crowd noises in old dramatic productions. I can just imagine it now, the 'rhubarb' iterations going and on and on, overlaying and reinforcing, until a resonant frequency was achieved and all the extras went hopelessly insane. Even now, I suspect, there are homes full of victims of the Rhubarb Practice. Maybe, one day, a cure will be found. Of course, this could also all be rubbish. You're not reading a blog with a high ambition for sense or logical reasoning.

Logical reasoning. That's one of the great challenges in teaching mathematics. My own learning had logical reasoning as an asset so intuitive, but also oddly polarised, as to make its teaching perversely difficult. So, if there's one area for improvement in the next few weeks, that is it. How to teach logical reasoning, and of advocate rhubarb in all its forms. Without 'rhubarb', how can we ever impart the wisdom to solve for two unknowns at the same time?

O.