Three Short Pedagogical Pieces by Sidney Fein :: Sidney Fein Literature Writers Essays

Three Short Pedagogical Pieces by Sidney Fein I. Teaching Logic, or Barnabus gambit At the last minute professor Hugo van der Weg decided to fork up to Holland. Perhaps he was homesick, missed pitched roofs and legalized narcotics, meatballs and rice table. No wiz told me. Maybe no one knew. Though I was deprived of the fun of meeting Professor v. d. w., his decamping was consequential for me. As Distinguished Visiting Professor (my pompous rating) I was obliged to teach only two courses per semester. My plane section chairman for the year was a decent fellow named William Pitt, like the prepare ministers. He was one of those people who have the knack of turning uplifted anxiety into a variety of charm and he telephoned at the curio of August to beg me charmingly to take on another trend, with no preparation and for no money, one of v. d. w.s orphans. Its logic, he declared, as if he had tell something that amounted to an argument. Pardon me? The course. Its 210, Logic. Ple ase? Pretty please? He then proceeded breathlessly, as though convincing me were a matter of speaking a runon conviction as rapidly as possible. Look, I wouldnt dare to wonder exactly its a requirement for a lot of our students, though you shouldnt have more than twentyfive all together, so it wouldnt be fair just to cancel it and theres cipher else who can take it onwell, except for Harold Whitson but hes already hold to do The Flying Dutchmans Rationalism seminar for me so I cant possibly ask him. No, that wouldnt be fair. I could almost hear him throwing his gaze heavenwards. What can I do? Deans have it fairly easy they can rely on simple bullying. But I think one of the criteria by which part chairmen are selected must be their ability to get people to breathe and say okay. So I sighed and said okay. Butlogic? The class really was a requirement, as Pitt said, though in a approve he didnt mention. The Philosophy department, perhaps Pitt himself, had maneuvered things so that PH210, Logic, could be taken to litigate the undergraduate math requirement. While this clever bit of academic politicking ensure a healthy enrollment, lots of FTEs in the lingo of the trade, and looked good on the accounting sheet of the wisdomlovers, it also guaranteed classes filled with the reluctant, resentful, and resigned.