tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post7402115606017321357..comments2024-03-27T07:37:25.421-04:00Comments on Excelsior: You're not getting older, you're getting--oh wait, you are getting older after all!Bevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05412883073330413390noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post-23221042461503216202014-11-17T13:17:25.478-05:002014-11-17T13:17:25.478-05:00Here is a true story: about a decade ago I taught ...Here is a true story: about a decade ago I taught a comedy class in which students read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and hated it. How could such a slim little volume engender such hatred? They couldn't make out the humor. You may recall the conversation when Ford Prefect tells Arthur that something or other is "unpleasantly like being drunk," and Arthur asks "What's so unpleasant about being drunk," and Ford says something like "ask a glass of water." I don't know how much class time I devoted to trying to get a certain student to twist her brain sideways enough to see the word play before I finally gave it up as a lost cause. Never again! (Although I have shown a few clips from the film occasionally.)Bevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05412883073330413390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post-44384707014880778412014-11-17T13:08:55.752-05:002014-11-17T13:08:55.752-05:00They don't know Vogons? What are these kids le...They don't know Vogons? What are these kids learning these days? I fear for our future. LJLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05325094300569473021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post-3094337969266348542014-11-08T12:03:39.774-05:002014-11-08T12:03:39.774-05:00Yes, I know I miss a lot of their references, and ...Yes, I know I miss a lot of their references, and I don't even want to know how many times I made my own professors shake their heads in despair over my ignorance. (Cue "Circle of Life.")Bevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05412883073330413390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post-24662255397940113632014-11-08T11:04:59.244-05:002014-11-08T11:04:59.244-05:00/comfort
I have to admit, if you'd have asked.../comfort<br /><br />I have to admit, if you'd have asked me any of those words in my first weeks of college, I'd have known "herpetologist" and that's it. (Okay, I'd have also known about the Godfather, and had some sense that Chuck Yeager was a pilot, but not much.)<br /><br />I bet your students are REALLY good at bubble tests and asking for strict rubrics, though?<br /><br />It's frustrating, isn't it? Especially that they don't get pop culture references I use, and I have no clue at all about theirs. Pretty much the same thing was happening when I was in college, I bet.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.com