The Prof stands at the front of the class and promptly at 9 a.m. asks us (and by us I mean those of us still employing the patented last moment cramming of information into our frontal lobes), "put away your notes and I will pass out the exam."
The Prof carefully lays out the instructions of the exam: when to start, how to start, how he won't allow us to ask questions during the exam. He gives us time to read through the exam and to ask any questions we may have before the exam actually starts. One girl tentatively asks whether the third essay of the exam should be done as a compare and contrast essay...another student clarifies the section number for the exam booklet.
And then from the back, a naive young student raises her hand and says, "I don't think you'll answer this or..uuhhh....and you don't even have to answer but ummm...but...what does didactic mean?"
The stunned silence of the class is almost too much to bear as we all wait for the prof to embarrass her with her own ignorance. The word didactic is only used in our texts about 30 times and the Prof has used the word over and over in class and apparently this lady has never bothered to get out the ole Oxford dictionary and look it up. I expect the Prof to launch into his favorite rant about how students seem to expect to be spoon-fed these days and I brace myself for the tirade to begin.
The Prof, after a few seconds of stunned silence, asks her to repeat her question....like maybe he didn't hear her correctly...or maybe she actually didn't ask what he thinks she asks...
"No, that's okay, I know I should have looked it up..." starts the mortified student, "it's okay, forget I asked...." she squeaks out, squirming uncomfortably in her seat.
The Prof states, " You don't know what didactic means?"
Silence.
"You don't have to answer..." she back-pedals.
"It means to teach...or to give instruction." He takes his seat and I see him shake his head.
It was the most uncomfortable moment...and they say there is no such thing as a stupid question.
Ouch. I bet she'll never forget what didactic means.
I wondered in the back of my head how many other students didn't know what it meant and were thankful she asked that question. Has the prof failed or are students just way too lazy?
Song Du Jour: "Nothingman" by Pearl Jam
once divided...nothing left to subtract...some words when spoken...can't be taken back...
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
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8 comments:
That's some hilarious shit. Apparently the kids aren't all right. My experience is that people are getting less literate. I blame child centered education.
Weeds, you have left us with with no explanation of your earlier post of the picture of the bull. Why does life feel like that?!? The point of a blog is to expose your raw seething pain to virtual strangers. C'mon Weeder!
gw
Chanson du jour-"Be more cynical" by Bill Maher. I know it's not a song, but I downloaded it last night and it 60 minutes of cynical fun.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Corrie St. is totally rocking right now.
The bull was sent to me via email with a lot of other pictures claiming to be the "last photos" that person had taken. G-Dub, You know how life is when you are a student in the last weeks of April. I need not explain the bull to you, Sir.
The gal should have done her homework before, obviously. At University level professors expect you to be prepared. I still try to stick with the...'there is no such thing as a stupid question'. Although it was embarrassing, it is good that she asked rather than sit there with a blank look on her face. It is too bad that the professor, in humility, couldn't have just stated what the word meant without making her feel like an idiot. Like you said Heather, there were probably others too fearful to ask the question, and equally relieved that she asked.
It's a great story for stirring discussion.
I think it's dangerous to create a scenario, especially in education, where it is NOT ok to ask questions. Isn't asking questions what learning is all about?
I will concede that the student's timing was poor in waiting all semester. Perhaps the pressure of the exam and the need to understand the exam question forced the student to finally be brave enough to speak up?
Just a note: the words patented, and back-pedal, are incorrectly spelled in the article.....
Just a note: the words patented and back-pedal are misspelled in the article.....
Good call Cap'n Grammar.
You missed the word embarrass...I spelled it wrong too so no bonus points for you I guess.
Perhaps I should start actually using the spell checker.
I know this post is seven years old but.... your professor was incorrect in defining "didactic" as a verb. It is clearly an adjective. What an ass he must've been.
- some guy on the web
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