I believe sanity and realism can be restored to the teaching of Mathematical Statistics most easily and directly by entrusting such teaching largely to men and women who have had personal experience of research in the Natural Sciences.
Interpretation
The teaching of Mathematical Statistics should be handled by those with practical research experience in the Natural Sciences.
In this quote, Ronald Fisher emphasizes the importance of having educators in Mathematical Statistics who possess firsthand experience in the Natural Sciences. He argues that such teachers can bring sanity and realism to the subject, as they understand its application and relevance through actual research, potentially leading to more effective and grounded instruction.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of qualified educators, this quote can highlight the value of practical experience.
No isolated experiment, however significant in itself, can suffice for the experimental demonstration of any natural phenomenon; for the "one chance in a million" will undoubtedly occur, with no less and no more than its appropriate frequency, however surprised we may be that it should occur to us.
To consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination. He can perhaps say what the experiment died of.
In reading, we are both scientists and poets.
Don't be afraid! We won't make an author of you, while there's an honest trade to be learnt, or brick-making to turn to.
The hardest conviction to get into the mind of a beginner is that the education upon which he is engaged is not a college course, not a medical course, but a life course, for which the work of a few years under teachers is but a preparation.
In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.
The library is not only a diary of the human race, but marks an act of faith in the continuity of humanity.
How do you explain to somebody who doesn't understand that you don't build a library to read. A library is a resource. Something you go to, for reference, as and when. But also something you simply look at, because it gives you succour, answers to some idea of who you are or, more to the point, who you would like to be, who you will be once you own every book you need to own.
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