... and was scared by what I saw!
I may have mentioned this in another thread, but I can't quite remember... I took an adjunct faculty position at one of the local county colleges this fall. It was just something for a change of pace since my schedule allowed... and it's only two freshman level classes.
Talk about the lights being on, but nobody's home...
Granted, it's not like I'm teaching classes at Princeton, but still... Maybe I just haven't been around that age group for any appreciable length in quite some time. I can say one thing though... the whole cell phone thing has already driven my up the wall! Each and every time I scanned the class during the first week, I saw at least 6 kids just texting away on their phones! However, the next week when they were greeted with a basket at the front of the room for them to place their powered-down phones in, all of the sudden many of these kids who hadn't muttered a single sentence in the prior week, suddenly developed the ability to speak... or more appropriately - argue.
"You can't do that," this one girl exclaimed... "What if there's an emergency!?!"
I pointed to the phone by the door and said - "if there's really that big of an emergency, all one has to do is call the college switchboard, give your name and class, and voila! The call will come through to that phone... As amazing as it sounds, calls
can still travel over wires..."
"But... but.. but... what if blah blah blah blah...," she continued to go on and on.
I said, "Miss, I don't care what your old high school teachers or even your other professors here allow you to do... You're an adult now... You (or your parents, or the government) paid to be here, and you (hopefully) made a conscious decision to be here. If you can't manage to devote a couple hours of your week to this class, then I'd highly suggest you go back down to registration and get your money back."
Then she just gave me a dirty look like I raped her dog or shot her grandmother and tried her best not to make eye contact the rest of class. Was I really that much of a hardassed SOB?
Anyway... to be fair, there are a handful of good students... some young kids who seem eager to learn (or at least get a good grade), as well as a few older students who actually like participating... which is refreshing to say the least. I even have this one old guy who's really cool... He has to be at least in his late 60s/early 70s, who told me after class one day that he just enjoys taking a class or two each semester just for something to do! Needless to say I was impressed and give him much respect and kudos for it... I hope I still have that sort of drive when I'm that age.
Either way... it looks to be an interesting fall!
I can say one thing though... regardless of whether they can actually put together a coherent thought or not, I forgot how... ahem.. pleasing to the eye.. ahem.. them thar college girls can be...
Don't tell the Mrs... lol.
