Thursday, January 28, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Page 1 1
Boring teachers: Like waking up for sleeping pill
i aim: in on
The cafeteria in the student union, (the ,ilaee where
the truly important issues of college life are discussed).
Two students sit at a table amidst books, papers and food.
JOHN: Well how's the day, Sam my man?
I'LTLU: I think you're going to want to call me Larry
today.
JOHN: Why?
PLTLR: Well you know how you always call me Sam
when you think I'm acting like a man? And Larry when
I'm not?
JOHN: Right.
PLTLR: Well, I just cut my history and methods
3.
Chuck
Jagoda
class again.
JOHN: Larry! Why?
PLTLR: Going to this course is like waking up to take
your sleeping pill. And this is the only section there
is of the course. First, 1 couldn't even get into it. I had
to rearrange my whole schedule to get in. And then the
teacher turns out to be the worst instructor who ever
bored wallpaper off a wall.
JOHN: Is he the only one who teaches it?
PLTLR: (Nods head.) And only once every two years!
JOHN: Well, you could wait two years until it's taught
again and hope for a better teacher.
PLTLR: No way. I got to get out of here and get to
work now. Do you know what the hiring situation is
today? Do you know what the interview situation is
today? I went to sign up for a job interview at the place
ment center this morning- instead of fighting the battle
of slumber city in class. The appointment sheet was all
filled up! Seven-thirty in the morning is too late! Plus,
if they find out that you're not the major that was called
for- if you're a psychology major and they asked for
marketing majors? They cross your name off the appoint
ment list.
JOHN: Well, cutting history and methods isn't going
to help you get a job or an interview, Larry.
PLTLR: Oh, you're cruel. But what am I going to do?
I gotta take this course.
JOHN: What else is so terrible?
PLTLR: Well, only that he mumbles, he smokes in
class -
JOHN: Is there a NO SMOKING sign in the room?
PLTLR: He parks right under it when he smokes.
JOHN: Oh.
PLTLR: And he has this bad philosophy of "I'm okay
and you're an rdoit" towards students.
JOHN: So drop the course.
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PLTLR: I can't. I need it to graduate.
JOHN: Well, can't you find anything interesting in
his class?
PLTLR: What's to be interested in? He never raises
his voice above a monotone. Never shows any enthusiasm
about the course.
JOHN: That is serious. If he doesn't get interested in
it, how arc you supposed to?
PLTLR: Lxactamundo. (Pause.) Plus, when he does
explain anything, it's all so confusing and irrelevant that
who could care about it anyway? I tell you if it keeps up,
I not going to be able to stay awake through enough
classes to pass. I may have to buy the book to find out
what's going on!
JOHN: That could help (Pause.) Look. This guy's
boring, okay. And he plays I'm the hero and you're the
zero. But you need him. The way it's going now, you
sound like you won't last the semester. You've got to find
value in him. he's got something you need. You can't
graduate with out taking his course. Now you've got to
translate that into a way to involve yourself in the class.
PLTLR: Yeah, and then after that I'll give up junk
food and learn to love Reaganomics. Hey, I'm not trying
for sainthood here, just a passing grade. I don't have time
to transcend the whole world of earthly attachments
right now.
JOHN: Well, there's only one thing to do.
PETLR: Shoot him and hope they replace him with a
live specimen?
JOHN: Only as a last resort, but I like the spirit kid.
Keep that. Look, if he's got no enthusiasm, you've got to
supply it.
PLTLR: Me!
JOHN: You got to dig.
PLTLR: Dig, as in understand?
JOHN: Dig, as in spade work.
PLTLR: Could I please have some words to hang
these images on?
JOHN: You have to go and figure out how and what he
gets excited by. He's in a field that he's spent years
studying. He did his Ph.D. thesis in something. Has he
got one?
PETER: I le's got a Ph.D. and publishes.
JOHN: Alright! (HOME AT LAST, LAWDY, HOME
AT LAST.) Find out what he writes about. Nobody's
so dead upstairs that he doesn't have a pet point, some
train of thought, insight or basic assumption that heshe
is dying to explain to some curious soul. Be the thirsty
vessel that he can pour his knowledge into- find a way to
ask him for the pearls he came to give - ask him, probe
him.
PETER: (Looks thoughtfully at his books.)
JOHN: Remember grasshopper, there are no stupid
questions or stagnant learning situations if we will but
evoke our curiosity.
PETER: Hmmm
JOHN: Think of it as beaming around inner space until
you can find the dimension this guy comes alive on
lie must have chosen topics to research that interest him
or maybe he's found some new area that excites him.
Ask him what it is.
PLTLR: What about the irrelevant stuff?
JOHN: It may appear irrelevant to you but it's not to
him. Find out how and what it relates to for him.
PLTLR: How?
JOHN: Ask him. (Pause.) Everybody's got a reason to
get up in the morning.
PLTLR: You know-. I guess the guy does have an ac
tive intelligent mind. Just cause I've never seen any evi
dence of it-. Maybe if I can catch on to how it works,
I'll find that some of his principles are useful to me.
JOHN: Now you're talking, Sam.
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mmS CAN RKBYt OUT
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