Comments | andrewapollo: An obscenely large pool of drool

andrewapollo

An obscenely large pool of drool

Feb 22, 2007 15:44

I'm beginning to find my English classes to be a bore. I feel as if nothing is actually accomplished. Nothing. As the professor tries to direct the conversation, the majority of the class is sleeping in an obscenely large pool of drool. They don't get it ( Read more... )

Comments 4

__ladylazarus__ February 23 2007, 01:36:14 UTC

i feel you andrew, i feel you...

in my english class this semester, i'll admit i have only done about 40% of the required reading... but i know i contribute more to class conversation than 90% of the class. aside from like 5 of us in a class of 50, nobody speaks.

it's depressing and frustrating. the brit lit i took in high school was more engaging... i can't understand how a classroom full of high schoolers forced to read and discuss brit lit against their will got more excited and had more to say than my current class of college students supposedly in this class of their own free will with a genuine intrest in the subject...

i miss being in class with you

?! dankoenig7470 February 24 2007, 00:22:47 UTC

I have the opposite problem in my English class. Everybody has something to say but what they do say is almost always useless parp. Typically the discussion will devolve into references to reality TV or pop culture. As I don't watch TV or participate in pop culture such references mean nothing to me. The most pompous and eagerly vocal students try their hardest to over-analyze and dramatize issues they know little about in reality. I don't know how the professor can keep a straight face conversing with half of them. Frequently, during "discussion" I have to pinch myself to keep from laughing and consciously choose not to roll my eyes ( ... )

dankoenig7470 February 24 2007, 01:48:18 UTC

BTW, my sister Sarah who is working on her Ph.D. in English and has been T.A.ing in university English classes the last two years agrees with me about my assessment of overly-talkative undergrads.

nehalemsparkles February 24 2007, 02:53:42 UTC

There is truth in your commentary on America, but there also needs to be a level of understanding. I think overworking your people (Americans work 20 hours more than Europeans) means that they just want to sit down, relax and turn your brain off with the boob tube.

I'm not completely exonerating people. Students are paying or are being paid to learn to use their brain. They shouldn't be here if they aren't going to use their head.

However, I just wanted to comment on America at large.

:I know what you mean. Whenever I ride TARC I'm looking around and I'm the only one with a book. Then I start asking myself, "Are they thinking with the same type of tenacity that I use my brain or are they zombified to the point that all they can think about is the food they'll eat or the person they'll sleep with tonight?":