I just happen to have had the most incredible physics teachers, and I know elite engineering schools do too: Feynman, that Eastern European lady who is way too loud and excited about science, the “let’s see if conservation of movement works, or if that bowling ball will crush my skull” guy. Every school had more than one. Steve Mould is a gift from above, but not a unique one…
On the other hand what Randal Monroe from xkcd and Grant Sanderson from 3blue1Brown have alluded to, that felt like witchcraft unlike anything I’ve seen in class.
I went to what should be one of the most demanding schools for statistics and it took me years to make sense of it. Re-opening my notes after things clicked was earth-shaking.
And it wasn’t specific to the school: we also had economics teacher, and they were incredible: hilarious, terrifying, unforgettable. “Our task is to forecast inflation. We have tried many approach, mainly macroeconomics and bone reading. Bone reading was more accurate, but the minister didn’t think it involved enough suffering.” How do you forget that?