Here we are now entertain us / I feel stupid and contagious / Here we are now entertain us - Nirvana
Let be be finale of seem./ The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. - Wallace Stevens
The good news is that the quality of current college freshmen is such that they no longer feel the need to laugh at my jokes when they aren't funny. Of course, on the whole they believe it's my job to either entertain them so they can forget they're in class or to forget they're in class and pass them on since they already know everything.
And I'm one who respects and understands experience as a teacher. And I'm one who realizes that even the most self-entitled, insulated 18 year old has some experience from which to draw. The issue is that while most 18 year olds know some things, they believe they already know everything because they have learned how to affect cynicism and wear beanies.
On the upside, I'm either past the age or past good looking enough to where the girls don't try and flirt with me to improve their grades.
But on the whole, higher ed is pretty much the same as when I left it, and I find odd comfort in this dysfunctional fact. I survive the cognitive dissonance caused by the outright deception of admissions people and the conflict of purpose among my colleagues by remembering that I did not build this screwed up machine. I am merely trying to dance on the edge of the conveyor belt.
A few updates:
Let be be finale of seem./ The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. - Wallace Stevens
The good news is that the quality of current college freshmen is such that they no longer feel the need to laugh at my jokes when they aren't funny. Of course, on the whole they believe it's my job to either entertain them so they can forget they're in class or to forget they're in class and pass them on since they already know everything.
And I'm one who respects and understands experience as a teacher. And I'm one who realizes that even the most self-entitled, insulated 18 year old has some experience from which to draw. The issue is that while most 18 year olds know some things, they believe they already know everything because they have learned how to affect cynicism and wear beanies.
On the upside, I'm either past the age or past good looking enough to where the girls don't try and flirt with me to improve their grades.
... glass half full and all that, after all...
But on the whole, higher ed is pretty much the same as when I left it, and I find odd comfort in this dysfunctional fact. I survive the cognitive dissonance caused by the outright deception of admissions people and the conflict of purpose among my colleagues by remembering that I did not build this screwed up machine. I am merely trying to dance on the edge of the conveyor belt.
A few updates:
- I am officially "in the system" at U of L.
- I have replaced my stolen phone and even updated to an underwhelming iOS7.
- I am learning to play the banjo.
I am also tinkering with the idea of another chapbook and plotting another run at the story gathering project.