Hellbent on Teaching
I think it’s because I officially quit at the start of the term, but I am take no bull at a certain art school that shall go unnamed. Last night, when the class sat down to do a Socratic reading of Dorothy Allison’s “This is Our World,” it quickly became evident that, out of the entire class, only one person had read it. One. Let that sink in a minute. And imagine 45 minutes with that crowd remaining on the clock. So I said, “Look, I am just gonna straight talk you. This is my last term at _______.” At which point students cried out, “NOOO!” I shit you not. They were sad about it. But I continued, “I’ve tendered my resignation, which means that I am not beholden to passing any of you just because the department pressures me to do so. I’ve taught here long enough to be tired of working harder than my students, to be weary of all your bullshit printer excuses and flat out laziness, and I am not doing it anymore. So here’s the deal, get your shit together. Stop being content with mediocrity. I suspect your whole lives people have told you that’s all your capable of, but how about we break that cycle and actually *do something* together. You know, because if you had actually read the reading, you would have seen that I picked it especially for you. I selected it for you because I want you to know that as first generation college students, as people of color, as people who have been talked down to, as returning students, you each have an entitlement to art, to accessing the sublime.” I looked out at their faces and they were genuinely sheepish and teary-eyed. "So that’s it," I finished. :You’re either the luckiest or unluckiest class because I am hellbent on making sure you learn something. But I am not passing bullshit." I should quit jobs more often.
