Today I did something that I'm pretty proud of.
I defied my T.A.
Now, my mother has a phrase for the people in class who sit in the back of the room and point out inconsistencies with the same joy and self-pleasure as a pirate who found buried treasure on his own. She calls them "bright boys" and I never want to embody the stereotype because it sounds awful, self-congratulatory and the opposite of true intelligence.
But I was disgusted by the guest lecturer today, who dressed up her lecture on Susan Sontag in hyper-feminist leanings and tried to push it as fact rather than opinion. I didn't mind the agenda, or the opinion, but I do mind being told something that is 100 percent opinion and be expected to write it down in my notebook, to be regurgitated later.
So in class today, I commented. My T.A. defended the guest lecturer and the entire section turned, pointing out the inconsistencies between the reading and the guest lecturer's opinion-dominated message. Susan Sontag is a lot of posturing, and it's easy to posture upon posturing, and eventually, my TA agreed, and started talking down the guest lecturer as well.
It was interesting. I felt like my ire was bright boy misplaced enthusiasm, but I'm glad it wasn't.
What do you think?
Showing posts with label class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2009
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