tzikeh

Hey, to be fair, mass murder is one method of reducing the student-per-classroom numbers that we haven't tried yet!

My American Government prof uses instant true-or-false pop quizzes during the first two or three days of class to gauge the base knowledge level in the classroom, so that he can adjust his teaching methods and materials accordingly. In the middle of a lecture, he points at a random student, shouts "TRUE OR FALSE!" and then asks a question -- an astoundingly easy question, just to lead into discussion of the topic.

Sadly, my amusement at this technique faded rapidly.

Actual quotes from class:

Prof: "TRUE OR FALSE! (points at freshman woman) We have so much information about the Constitutional Convention because Yassir Arafat kept extensive memoirs while the framers were crafting the Constitution."
Student: "... true? Wait... false. No -- true."

Prof: "TRUE OR FALSE! (sadly, another freshman woman) Jan Schakowsky was the only woman allowed at the Constitutional Convention -- she got in because she was married to the President of the Convention."
Student: "True!" (Jan Schakowsky is currently a U.S. Congresswoman from Illinois)

The best by far (for tragic definitions of "best"), though, was when the Prof asked us to raise our hands for "agree with Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq" or "disagree", in order to set up an on-the-spot debate. All except two of the students raised their hands for "disagree"; the two who didn't raise their hands for disagree didn't raise them for "agree" either. Since they didn't vote, the were the default "agree" team (bet you'll vote next time, hippie).

The "disagree" team presented their case, all of which anyone reading this lj has heard one way or another. Then the "agree" team (again, oy, two freshman women) had to present theirs. They were given instructions by the Prof that they didn't have to agree with what they presented; they simply had to argue that side of the debate.

Student One: "Well... it's really hard to make decisions when bad things are happening. There's a lot of pressure for one person who is running a whole country to make a decision."
Student Two: "And people were mad. So... they needed an outlet. And the war was a way to get rid of anger."

And now, from the "Separated at Birth?" department: