Teacher Spotlight: Dr. Brege
Dr. Brege's love for math is infectious to all of his students, making him one of OHS' favorite teachers. Zaid Badiger (co-editor) finds out more about Dr. Brege in the interview below.
Pixel Journal: How did you decide to become a teacher?
Dr. Brege: I've always liked working with kids, especially when I was a youth sports (Baseball, Soccer, Basketball) coach. Then, my two sons were in high school, and I was fascinated by the impact that good teaching could have, and whether I could have an impact like that for myself. So, I decided that I was ready for that challenge and jumped in.
PJ: Why did you decide to teach Microeconomics and Calculus? What interests you most about them?
DB: I taught Calculus prior to joining OHS, and really enjoyed the challenge of making it accessible while keeping the course rigorous. The subject itself seems to be a fundamental shift in thinking, as we move from finding The Answer ("solve for x") to a problem to paying attention to the patterns and behavior of an equation; it's also fun to help students see how to get creative with reshaping a problem until you get it to the stage where you can make it work.
OHS has provided me with my first opportunity to teach Microeconomics, although it's an area where I've spent more of my own education than anywhere else - and which has definitely shaped the way that I see the world. I really enjoy the chance to introduce students to a discipline which is so topical and which provides so many real-world applications. Our discussions in class are really interesting to me, particularly when we get a chance to confront conventional wisdom with a contrasting theoretical structure.
PJ: What is your favorite course to teach, and why?
DB: In addition to the Microeconomics and Calculus, I love teaching Statistics, for many of the same reasons - it has real-world applicability, it's a challenging way of looking at the world, and it has a lot more rigor than many students initially suspect. I can make a pretty good argument that Statistics is a subject that everybody should study - with all of the data that we now can confront, it's important to know how to think about organizing and interpreting it.
PJ: If you could give one piece of advice to OHS students, what would you tell them?
DB: Spend time to understand the viewpoints of as many different people as you can, from as many different backgrounds and experiences as possible. OHS provides a wonderful forum for this, but I really want to emphasize the importance of seeking out viewpoints that challenge your own - and trying to understand why they look at the world that way. This may deepen some of your convictions and shake some others, but it will give you a depth that will reward you.
PJ: What does your life look like outside of school?
DB: We do a lot of exploring - near and far. I've been to all six inhabited continents and about 30 countries (and more than 40 US States) so far, and there's so much more I haven't seen! We enjoy finding new places where we've never visited, and are trying to see as much of the world as we can. On the weekends when we're not traveling, I'm frequently on the golf course or attending a sporting event (Stanford basketball or football, SF Giants baseball).
PJ: If you could meet any person, dead or alive, who would you meet, and why?
DB: Assuming I'd also get a magical translation device, I'd probably go for Leonardo diVinci - so many talents, such a brilliant thinker. I'm fascinated by people who have varied talents, and he's clearly high on the list of such people. I'd just love to try to understand how he could be so good at so many things.