End of Semester

It’s the end of the semester here. Classes ended last week and that leaves me with some final exams and papers to get graded before the end of this week. I’ve also got a talk (on ID) to prepare for Friday. All good.

Via PZ, I give you the Beatitudes for Teachers:

Then Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain and gathered them around Him. And then He taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
Blessed are the meek,
Blessed are the merciful,
Blessed are you who thirst for justice,
Blessed are you who are persecuted,
Blessed are the peacemakers."

And Simon Peter said, "Do we have to write this stuff down?"
And Philip said, "Will this be on the test?"
And Andrew said, "John the Baptist’s disciples don’t have to learn this stuff."
And Matthew said, "Huh?"
And Judas said, "When am I ever going to use this in real life?"

Then one of the Pharisees, an expert in law, said, "I don’t see any of this in the syllabus. Do you have a lesson plan? Is there an activity for each of the seven intelligences? Where is the study guide? Will there be any authentic assessment? Will remediation and extra credit be provided for those who did not meet class requirements so they can still pass?"
And Thomas, who had missed the sermon, came to Jesus privately and said, "Did we do anything important today?"

And Jesus wept.

Familiar, I am sure, to all teachers who read this.

Tags

More like this

In an op-ed at the Seattle Times, communication scholars Dave Domke and Kevin Coe note the absurd God & Country tests that have been applied to Barack Obama, ranging from the "Give Praise to God" test
When I return from the ASM2011 meeting, I hope to discuss this excellent post by Michael Bérubé about the political centrality of the culture wars.
"There's something enchanting under his sari!"
When I was a little kid, my cousin, who was an actual Catholic Arch Bishop (Archbishop of Anchorage) came over to the house one day, and I saw family elders approach him, one by one, genuflect and kiss his ring. Then one or two of my relatives brought him sacred objects for him to bless.