My afternoon "Population and Social Policy" class was witness to one of those rare moments in human experience, where an intangible, perhaps psychic bond united us students.
Every week we have group discussion, and if you can recall from previous posts, I do not like the group discussion format. By and large I find it ineffective. Typically no new thought is generated beyond that necessary to read the 3-page hand-in discussion notes which we've all prepared. Apparently I am not alone in my dislike for this redundant and ineffective exercise.
With less than 30 minutes in the class, it looked like the professor was wrapping up her lecture, and with a sensible hint of mass panic (perhaps despair?) we all realized that we'd soon be broken up arbitrarily into groups and forced to "discuss." Then it happened...
One by one, we students started asking the professor questions about her lecture. Most student/professor dialogue in this particular class consists of one talkative guy and one talkative girl throwing out random queries to the professor - sometimes these vocalizations aren't even questions, but vague references of "I read this article that..." or "In my other SOC class I learned...". Anyways, these participation mark Showboaters took a back seat as we bombarded the front of the room with questions.
Obviously taken aback by this sudden outburst of interaction, the professor embraced the moment, somewhat reminiscent of a lonely puppy getting a belly-rub from dozens of gawkers. So, one by one, we submitted queries until barely 5 minutes remained, at which point the whole process ended abruptly.
End of class! Students: 1, Teacher: 0.
Currently: Searching online job postings. The PRL limits me to 15 hrs/wk, and that just won't cut it financially.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment