The Food of the Gods. Presidential Address to the Mathematical Association, January 1935

Extract

A popular gibe against the branch of the teaching profession to which most of you belong is that the qualifications on which an appointment is made are not always related very closely to the duties of the post which is being filled. It is athletic prowess, we are told, that really matters. If only a man has a blue, all that is expected of him in the way of learning is sufficient intelligence to keep a clear week ahead of his class, in whatever subject he is engaged to teach. I am not going to ask whether there is or ever has been any truth in this aspersion, but I can properly point out to you this afternoon that you have no right to resent it. The accidents and aptitudes that may bring a man to the Chair of your Association are many and diverse, but one consideration is certainly never raised.