Is it inhumane to give a 9 a.m. literature class an unannounced reading quiz on the day after the Superbowl? And does it make a difference if the hometown team lost?
Let me qualify those questions a bit: The quiz was not entirely unannounced. Last Friday I told my American Lit Survey students that they should keep in mind the characteristics of modernism we've been talking about as they read Susan Glaspell's Trifles, because if they had a reading quiz that information would be useful. The hint was there for the taking, but apparently some students didn't take it or got distracted. (Probably by the Superbowl.)
And it's not entirely true that the Bengals are the hometown team. Cincinnati is more than three hours' drive from here, and locals tend to be loyal to the Cleveland Browns. However, Joe Burrow grew up in a small town about 40 minutes away and has been hailed as a local hero because of his vocal support for Appalachian Ohio's food banks, so Bengals Fever has been strong locally. (One symptom: our governor temporarily changed the name of Burr Oak State Park to Burrow Oak. Ha!)
A former student of mine who teaches at a Cincinnati high school has the day off today. Classes were cancelled because who would show up? But we are serious scholars relentlessly pursuing enlightenment without regard for outside distractions, so all but one of my 8 a.m. composition students showed up for class. None of them looked particularly perky, but they were present! Rather than introducing new material, I gave them 40 minutes of class time to work on revising their papers that are due on Wednesday while I circulated around the room answering questions and offering guidance.
But at 9 I gave a reading quiz, because apparently I am a mean, heartless English prof who gets her jollies out of torturing students. Based on their responses, I would guess that half of the students read the play, which is not untypical, but even those who didn't read the play were able to say something about modernism, even if they weren't able to offer specific examples from the play.
The way I see it, my students should thank me. Those who took the hint and prepared for the quiz enjoyed an opportunity to earn a good grade, while those who weren't prepared and bombed the quiz will have something to complain about for the rest of the day, and maybe for a few moments they'll be able to forget that Joe Burrow and the Bengals lost the Superbowl. That's my public service for the day. (You're welcome.)
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