much like the moon blasting of last week, my breaking point has been reached. in case my faithful readers have forgotten, i am teaching at one high school (see racists below) and two colleges. one of these colleges has proven to be an incredibly frustrating one to teach at. i've not taught college before, but i'm assuming that the students registered at such an institution are coming with a certain set of knowledge-based and practical skills. i remember college. i remember my first year of college. i remember you had to get your stuff together pretty quickly and adjust your study habits to the requirements of the class. so when i have to use the same lectures i used with my 8th grade students last year for my college students, something's going wrong. when i can lecture for 100 minutes straight and not ONE STUDENT asks a question, something's messed up. when i pose a question to a class, the same question i asked middle school students, and not one person says anything, perhaps our definition of college-able student needs to be reevaluated. it's not the lack of knowledge that really kills me, it's the apathy. it's unbelievable. and today was it. i was done.
the question i posed: "why might genetic diversity be a good thing?" i'm looking for anything. anything at all. doesn't have to be right... just ideas. .... 10 seconds..... 20 seconds...... 30 seconds. nothing. not a peep. i decided to call their bluff. another 10 seconds..... still nothing. i'm so mad. i then say "seriously? my eighth graders would come up with something. anything." a girl in the front row says "what was the question?" and then the girl behind her blows a huge bubble and pops it. TO HELL WITH ALL OF YOU. i will not be sad to not be teaching at that school next semester.
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