Wednesday

Second-to-last last day of skool

It's the Wednesday before reading week
and all through the school
not a prof makes any sense;
it's like it's a rule.

But, nonetheless, tis the season for the professorial post-class applause that's been pretty standard since I arrived. Why should you clap for a teacher at the end of a class? Is it a way to bridge the gap between the wide-eyed thoughts that your professor lives in the school of yesteryear and the very real idea of having to confront them in a courtroom in the future? Is it meant to make the prof feel complacent about the students' attitudes and scale back his/her final accordingly? Are we just monkeys that clap when anything ends?

Who knows. But, a warning to unrepentent instructors: Your right to congratulatory applause is, like a tip at a restaurant, dependent on you not being a total d-bag all semester. There are exceptions (my 15 person seminar class didn't clap, because the room wouldn't fit it) but, if you're waiting at the front of the room for questions/applause on the last day, and the room's empty, I'd suggest making your class (1) easier; (2) shorter; (3) easier; and (4) more fun.

1 comment:

tortcaesar said...

it also seems to be a function of whether the prof. fishes for applause. Compare Sec'd Tranny (clapping after prof says, "I'm just amazed at how, every year, the classes just get smarter and smarter; you guys were by far the best so far....") with P.R. (no clapping after prof keeps class 5 minutes late, gives no praise to class, and trails off into oblivion after not really giving a solid answer to any question asked during review session). It begs the question, are we clapping for the prof or for ourselves?