A science teacher has the advantage of hooking learners with all their senses: flashes, bangs and smells. The science labs are something that many learners at the start of secondary school (high school) are eager to explore, and when there is an open day at school it feels unfair that the mathematics department has to try to compete for excitement with the liquid nitrogen and explosions on display in the science area. The author argues that there is nothing wrong with being a science teacher, but school science teaching is full of restrictions. On the contrary, mathematics teachers are lucky because they do not have to be a control freak in the classroom. What the author loves about teaching mathematics is that learners can explore without permission--no teacher needs to impede their thinking by fencing off areas and telling them they are too young or too inexperienced or too clumsy to go there. The author loves the way that learners of mathematics can take control and come to conclusions that they "know" are right, not because someone tells them so but because they have reasoned it out for themselves. (Contains 4 figures.)