The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Watching sports is boring and a huge waste of time and energy.

Perhaps I will find a little more support for this on this forum, but this one has plagued me my whole life.  I recall so many times people ask if you like hockey, football, etc., and are kind of shocked when I say no.  Then, when they continue to ask what sport I follow and the look I get when I tell them none...

I just don't understand the fascination.

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on September 27, 2023, 09:17:56 PMActually, now that I think about it, Bon Jovi is the worst band of all time. 

Since a significant chunk of Christian rock is composed of Bon Jovi clones, I'm not sure how that can possibly be true.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for you, Kay my man, if you are offended by a 20-yo office receptionist using your first name.  I mean, come on---you and I are the same age.  You did not grow up on a manor in Edwardian England.  We live in a society that prides itself on egalitarianism (in theory and politico-speak, anyway); the receptionist is simply using our current norms.  However, as always, you do you.  You're gonna be upset more than you should, but hey, live your beliefs---you've more or less said you're going to suffer umbrage anyway (so why are you asking for our opinions?).

For the record, I worked several late shifts at convenience stores when I was younger, and I dealt with the dregs of society and drunken yuppies on a nightly basis, a couple of incidents actually resulting in me physically escorting unwanted patrons from the premises and in one instance an actual brawl. I also hauled sheetrock with several of the hardest individuals I have even known, both ex-cons, who had, shall we say, interesting opinions about life.  So, again, I am a little hesitant to feel too sorry for you having to deal with people sporting tattoos. 

But this was an interesting question:

Quote from: kaysixteen on September 27, 2023, 05:59:53 PMI leave it to all of ye to ask yourselves, sincerely, what you would do if confronted in a classroom with a 'student' with a swastika tattooed on his neck, and 'f*ck you' (asterisk mine) on his hands.

I suppose I would speak to the student privately and ask them to at least cover the tattoos while in class, and I would probably speak to my chair and inform them that I have a potentially problematic situation in the classroom.  However, I am not sure I would do much else.  Our current culture wars have almost anyone who has a really repugnant viewpoint screaming about their First Amendment rights----and they are probably right.  I am not sure that there is anything that CAN be done about a kid with offensive tattoos.

Actually, now that I think about it, Bon Jovi is the worst band of all time. 

The sales figures are in, and my book has netted me $232 USD!

My author's copies appear to account for 11% of the copies currently in circulation. =P

Linkedin is the most toxic social media site.

Twitter has been lame for a decade and it is no worse (or better) under Musk than it was in the years before he took over.

The Exorcist is a good movie, but not a scary one.

Hmmmm....

1) grad students need breakies every 40 minutes?

2) If the class is supposed to run 2:45 or even 3:00, a break is essential, but only one.   And if you regularly decide to end class by the two hour mark, are you not giving the students what they paid for?

Obviously BU needs to thoroughly investigate this situation.  If crimes are discovered, prosecutors need to be called in.   But assuming the answer is merely incompetence, Kendi still needs to be made to hire a real, competent manager, and see his salary grossly curtailed in order to save as many of the jobs of the anonymous working slobs whose salaries the donors' checks were meant to underwrite.

I suspect many if not most of you would adjust to my life circumstances no better, and in most cases much worse, than I have.   The life of a satisfied college professor, happily ensconced in a community and a job where you would simply never have to encounter and regularly experience that which I deal with essentially daily, are essentially in different universes.  I do not want to brag about myself, but I think I have dealt with these things as best as possible.

That does not mean I have to like these trends, no.  Nor will I.   I leave it to all of ye to ask yourselves, sincerely, what you would do if confronted in a classroom with a 'student' with a swastika tattooed on his neck, and 'f*ck you' (asterisk mine) on his hands.

This is one of the situations where I miss smoking. When I was in graduate school, most of our classes were three-hour seminars, and most of them had a break in the middle for everybody (including the professor) to smoke. I would not suggest making everybody smoke, but I like the idea of making everybody get out of their seats during a break.

I have taught a 3-hour night class for undergraduates for almost a decade (from 7pm to 9:45, to be exact). All my students work, some early in the morning, and the only way I've been able to handle it is to end the class after two hours. And I am always the last professor in the building, since the others seem to go for only an hour and a half.

Having students be active instead of passive (e.g., to discuss rather than just absorb) helps. When I was in graduate school, the professor would often make a student lead all or part of the discussion.