Professors' Lament

-

'Save us from Google.’

We dread winter in North America because of howling winds, snow, slush, icy pavements, texting and driving, people texting while riding bicycles on pavements and drivers’ distraction while fighting with loved ones in the front seat.

College professors dread the fall for one good reason: Google professors. New brooms sweep well so, freshly-minted students who grew up a few blocks from the university and those from other corners of the world descend upon lecture halls, exposing rude knees that wink from ripped jeans, hairstyles that rise to the occasion on top but shaved at the sides and the display of social media status symbols: 100 000 followers or more.

Professors and students are not on the same page. Teaching staff think parents pay $40 000 annually (more for foreign students) so that kids can benefit from knowledge they impart in lecture halls and tutor-student meetings. Meanwhile, most students feel that they already know what time it is because of Google and cohorts.

Professors ignore the din and go about their business, giving lectures and assigning assignments. It’s not easy, not with the ever-present Twitter alert, latest figures nullifying what the professor just said.

‘But Prof …..’

Disdain for Teaching Staff
Professors don’t mind the interruption. They take it in stride. Debate is good, one of the reasons why students are in college. Debating skills will come in handy in future when they are ministers in Her Majesty’s government, debating Brexit.

The British voted to leave the European Union (EU). Have they changed their mind? Turmoil among the front and backbenchers in London.

Students don’t have that luxury. They cannot afford to change their mind about professors they don’t like or think they know zilch. Not when parents, student loans or scholarships pay tuition fees.

‘But Prof ……’

That is their only option, irritating teaching staff and other students about how clued up they are on social media.  Hey! The professor doesn’t even speak Googla, the social media language. But professors have the last word.

‘Interesting point Bizos. Flesh that out in your paper, which is due next week and no emojis.’

Professors know how hard students convince their parents that a degree from such and such a university is the road to plum jobs at home and abroad.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

No Air Miles

-
Image
I don’t have Air Miles.   I’m considering putting that on a T-Shirt because I cannot go to the drugstore (chemist) or coffee shop without the cashier asking me if I have air miles. We waited for about two minutes the other day, while this guy looked for his Air Miles card in his overweight wallet.   For what?   For a few points. I don’t have air miles because Mathematics is a foreign language.   I was never good in numbers. That is why I squashed the idea of being an investment banker very early in life.   I understand you can invest in cornfields before the soil is turned up or pork bellies even before a baby pig is born. That is how I view air miles, investing in tomorrow or the unknown.   I’m the dumb one.   Some people understand this air miles’ thing so well, I overheard one customer saying: I can even convert my points into cash. Points and air miles are the same thing in Canada and the U.S.   Drugstores or clothing stores even give you a card to collect point
Read more