My brother, James Caballero, taught math for many years at Santa Monica High School, where he pioneered a math curriculum that not only incorporated computers but also, and more important, treated head-on the difference between thinking for yourself and having the illusion that a machine could do it for you.
He has a quote in a newly released book of quotes about mathematics, one for every day of the year, by many notables including Richard Feynman, Winston Churchill, and so on. His advice: "The day you decide not to take any more math courses listen carefully; you may hear a lot of doors closing."
I have thought about this, not that I know anything about studying math, but I do know about doors openings and closing. In the arts it is a bit different than in organized academic pursuits, though musicians are trying like mad to get their art to conform to organized academia. (All those Ph.D.s running around! I call them PhuDs.)
My solution: Make your own door. Start a non-profit. Go for the source of the greatest energy you can find. It's probably not on a campus anywhere.
Risk it.
