Jeff Davis | Vent Section Manager

4/05/02

I’m not going to use examples in this article because nearly a quarter, if not more, of the faculty at this school would hunt me down and stuff dirty socks in my mouth, a la Ashcroft. Yes, you got it, I’m finally venting about the professor that’s either a blessing to the lackadaisical student or a branched thorn in the side to the laboring scholar. The rambler.

I don’t think they mean to do it. I just suppose some of them think that with PhD's and what not their life becomes somewhat interesting, more so than that of a student. I have to admit they are wielding lots of power up there. The chalk, or even more powerful and phallic, the erasable marker, can send shocks of extreme power through even the most willful of hands. What’s more, there’s a chalkboard or whiteboard they can scrawl their thoughts all over. Not a good idea for some.

Sometimes the rambling professors will draw pictures of their tangents. I heard of a professor at one of my friend’s schools drawing a picture of South America on the board to point out where her adopted daughter was from, then talk about the source of the Amazon river that had been recently discovered. Keep in mind this was a class in the aerospace engineering department.

One class I’ve had in the past here was dominated by so many bizarre tangents that I will be the first to say, despite the professor’s incredible reputation, I didn’t learn a thing. The professor spoke quietly and eloquently…about nothing we needed to know.

Can they be interesting professors, though? Well of course. Some of the ones that will stand in front of class and flapjaw for the first thirty minutes of class have some deeply profound things to say. Things I want to whip out my journal for, sayings that should be in Bartlett’s. But they don’t have anything to do with the subject matter at hand. Not only is that what my gut tells me, that’s what my tuition bills tell me.

Most students care about class and a high percentage of those actually came here for an education! I think it’d be in the best interest of all concerned to teach the material with as much passion, enthusiasm and objectivism as possible, but to leave out clownish anecdotes that don’t fit in anywhere. There’s been more than one day where I’ve realized I could have skipped a class session because nothing happened.

RU is improving in its reputation, so let’s make everything work on all fronts.