Day Two - Before Class

Thought for Monday, Jul 14, 2003

It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time.

-Laurence J. Peter
DailyInbox: PAX Proverbs Plus

Over the weekend, the news broke that a secret diary was found at the Truman Presidential Library and HST was capable of the same anti-Semitic slurs that peppered Richard M. Nixon's private conversations. Publicly, - as noted by William Safire in today's NYT - both HST and Nixon supported Israel, but privately, they were anti-Semites. I'd like to turn Kinky Friedman on 'em.

I must leave for school anon. I discovered on Sunday afternoon that nearly 50% of the class had not even looked at the course syllabus since the first class meeting. I can monitor WebCT for student activity and I was shocked at this discovery. 1, 2, even 5, but nearly 50%?!? I sent each slacker an individual WebCT Mail message about my fears for their chances of success in HIST 1302-004. Of course, that was an exercise in futility because the Mail messages will sit upopened in each slacker's In Box. Instead, I will print the messages and distribute them as handouts to those slackers who attend on Day Two. Perhaps, many of the slackers have or will drop the course. When I tell 'em that they are going to have to make a presentation to the class and the assignment is 25% of the course grade, a lot of reassessment occurs. Most students at the College don't want to do anything, other than sit in class and listen to the drone of a lecture. My assignment requires library work. My friend - Yes, I have one! - on the Lynn Library staff at the College monitors usage of the various disciplinary collections: literature, history, the sciences, and the like. The major (sole?) users of the history collection are my students. What the hell my colleagues are doing, I don't know. How can a student take a college course and never set foot in the college library? I call it a crime against humanity. The common canard in Amarillo, TX is that Amarillo College is a top-notch two-year college. Amarillo College wouldn't be a wart on the behind of a first-class two-year college. And here I go back into the belly of the beast. Hoo-Yah!