Robert Garmong on teaching non-traditional undergraduates:
Class discussions were often rambling but always fascinating. I assigned only very brief reading assignments summarizing philosophical theories — perhaps four pages per class. All of utilitarianism, for example, got only a couple of pages, written in the simplest possible terms. The students struggled with the philosophical terminology, but most of them made it through. Their books, issued by the state with stern warnings against damaging them, were always open, always dog-eared, and usually marked up. For the first time in my teaching career, several students asked me for extra readings and extra assignments. It was professor catnip!At the same time, they were an amazingly manipulative bunch, and they played my policies like poker hands. When a nasty flu outbreak sickened half of the prison's inmates, I let two clearly sick students leave class. Next class, after more than half of my students quietly disappeared before an hour had passed, I stood in the doorway to stop the attrition.
(Hat tip: Arts & Letters Daily)
Posted by Craig Ceely at July 7, 2009 03:41 PM