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

Three Short Pedagogical Pieces by Sidney Fein I. Teaching Logic, or Barnabus Ploy At the last minute Professor Hugo avant-garde der Weg decided to return to Holland. Perhaps he was homesick, missed pitched roofs and legalized narcotics, meatballs and rice table. No one told me. Maybe no one knew. Though I was deprive of the pleasure 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 subdivision chairman for the year was a decent fellow named William Pitt, like the prime ministers. He was one of those people who have the knack of turning high disquiet into a variety of charm and he telephoned at the end of August to beg me charmingly to take on another class, with no preparation and for no money, one of v. d. w.s orphans. Its logic, he declared, as if he had said something that amounted to an argument. Pardon me? The course. Its 210, Logic. Please? P retty please? He then proceeded breathlessly, as though convincing me were a matter of speaking a runon sentence as rapidly as possible. Look, I wouldnt dare to ask further its a requirement for a deal of our students, though you shouldnt have more than twentyfive all together, so it wouldnt be fair just to seatcel it and theres nobody else who can take it onwell, except for Harold Whitson but hes already agreed 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 surgical incision chairmen are selected must be their ability to get people to sigh and say okay. So I sighed and said okay. Butlogic? The class authentically was a requirement, as Pitt said, though in a respect he didnt mention. The Philosophy department, perhaps Pitt himself, had maneuvered thin gs so that PH210, Logic, could be taken to fulfill the undergraduate maths requirement. While this clever bit of academic politicking insured a healthy enrollment, lots of FTEs in the lingo of the trade, and looked good on the accounting sheet of the wisdomlovers, it alike guaranteed classes filled with the reluctant, resentful, and resigned.