Before the term begins

I am teaching MA 305, Advanced Calculus, at Wartburg IBL style for the second time starting Monday.  I have the course on my mind when I had dinner at one of our Chinese restaurants last night.  Here are the appropriate fortune cookie sayings that I collected for my students:

• Only the person who risks is truly free.
• Good timber does not grow with ease; the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.
• Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.
• Only the educated are free.

The first couple of weeks of the class are going to feel to my students that someone has taken them out to the middle of the lake, thrown them in, and asked them to learn how to swim.  I know they can be successful, but they are in for a tough time for a bit.