We gathered at my sister's last night for a Thanksgiving eve since we all head out to the other side of the family for the actual turkey day... today."the other side" is a nice way of puttin it... heh...
Four of my nephews were there and chatting it up about college.
GT nephew: Make it stop. I have no life. I always have to do something.
YH nephew: Papers. I have written a thousand papers.
Me: Any of them any good?
YH nephew: Probably not...
KSU nephew: I long for the days of tests and no papers. I write papers all the time. My next paper is on CNN's [as the media's] impact on American culture for political science.
Me: You need a reference.... cause I have an opinion or two.
KSU nephew: Uh, no.. I mean, no thanks. I really appreciate it.
Me: I got time, you know.
KSU nephew: I'm good.
GT nephew: My English 1101 class is labeled Community 2.0.
Me: Huh?
GT nephew: Yes, the class is about projects and creating a community, and of course, she throws in some boring essays for us to read. My most recent community was an old folks home.
Me: Careful now.
GT nephew: English is now "woven."
Me: Explain.
GT nephew: That stands for "written, oral, visual, electronic, and non-verbal."
Me: Damn. I'm already overwhelmed.
GT nephew: On my last paper she was pretty underwhelmed. She dominated me.
Me: So, what's your grade?
GT nephew: Eh. B maybe. C maybe? Just a maybe.
Me: Sounds confident.
GT nephew: I'm looking forward to my next English class.
Me: Is that sarcasm?
GT nephew: No. It's English 1102.
Me: And?
GT nephew: Its title is "Witches, Aliens, and Communists."
ME: LOL. You think you will read?
GT nephew: Highly unlikely.
Of course, this discussion about his English course at Georgia Tech got all of the adults whipped into a frenzy about the lack of reading and writing and the focus on "media" ---
the nephews rolled their eyes
the adults longed for the "good ole days"
and
some things will never change.. I guess my parents and their generation did the same thing, but some how I think that things have changed more rapidly...so rapidly that if I taught on the college level I might have to title my course "Stories, Mostly Sad, and Writing."
You think anyone would sign up?
LOL
BTW: Nephews, thanks for explaining "flashmob" ["organized randomness" quipped one] to me -- I get it --- but I'm trying to decide if it's a good thing.
Any thoughts out there?
reading your interpretation of my class is WAY better than actually writing a blog for it.
ReplyDeleteI think you'll enjoy this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM
And for the record I don't think you would see my name on the roster for your English class. There is just something about the word "writing" that doesn't agree with me.
I wonder what the "other side affair" was like?
ReplyDelete