responding to (this next part's a link)a post by Thesaurus

so anyone in academia, or teaching for that matter, knows that sometimes you get engaged, thoughtful, hardworking students, and sometimes you get unmotivated, uninterested students who are biding time. last semester, i assigned a pretty tough reading assignment early on in the semester. it was the sort of essay in which students really needed to pay attnetion to the rhetoric and the words - and, in many cases, they needed to look up the definitions of some words to understand the context in which they were used in the essay. on the day the reading was due, i gave students a pop quiz on vocabulary. my students looked surprised. when i asked for definitions of words like 'wifery' and 'husbandry.' None of the 25 students sitting before me could define the words. i went on to explain that i expected them to look up words, define them, and understand their contexts whenever they read anything, whether for class or not. one girl rolled her eyes visibly and raised her hand. 'do you mean you expect us to do this every time we read anything for your class?' the look of disdain and utter disbelief on her face was rivaled only by mine. why wouldn't you want to take the time to learn the words and ideas you don't already know? isn't that what college is about?

for every student i have who defines his/her words, who strives to understand the concepts, who wants to take his/her learning to the next level, i have three, four, or five who don't. it's a sad state of affairs in american higher education. how many students come to school unprepared for the critical thinking and reading they need to do? how many students wait until the last moment to write their papers, visit the libraries, do their research? how many students hope to slip by and don't feel any need to strive to expand their horizons?

if i don't attempt humor to alleviate the stress or the disbelief at the state of higher education, i'll cry. and frankly, what kind of snarky girl cries for her students or admits a soft spot? what kind of snarky girl meets students one on one for 50+ hours a week? or extends deadlines for her students who are struggling to let go of gang life and who realize a college education, despite their deficiencies, is their only way out? what kind of snarky girl reads through a 200 page text, quizzing a student on vocabulary so she'll be prepared for the exam she needs to pass in order to graduate? this isn't snark. this is real life. this is life every day where stella and i work.

so seriously. i'll diss the students who show up in flip flops and use the word dis in every sentence. i'll diss the students whose sex lives rival carrie's on SITC. i'll diss the kids who flippantly ask stella why grammar matters anyways, since they're going into business. who won't i diss? the student who graduated as validictorian of her high school and couldn't spell to save her life - but who came to visit stella or me every day of every week for the four years she was in school. who else won't i diss? the mother of two whose husband has treated her like shit for the twenty years they've been married, whose self-esteem is non-existent, but who persists through two degrees and takes classes just because they might help her learn something she's not good at yet. i won't diss the grad student in counseling from China, who puts in so many hours each week going to class, stuyding, and working his internship that he rarely sees his wife, who i won't diss either, as she, forbidden from taking classes because she is merely in the states as her husband's wife, but is a published author and former teacher in both china and south korean, sits in on classes, unoffically auditing, just to practice her english.

so who will i (and stella!) snark on?

the lazy.
the unprepared.
the entitled.
the 'my frat/sorority' is more imporant than school.
the contemptuously stupid.
the actively uninformed.
the racist.
the eyerollers.
the holier-than-thou.
the wanna-be-band-kids.
the hot tub-in-my-driveway idiots.
my ex-boyfriends who suck (and no, inga is not a fem-nazi! some of her exes are quite lovely, right definer?).
the unquestioning religious.
the people who wear really ugly, 'weather' appropriate shoes.
the people over 10 who wear cartoon characters on their clothing. in public. and in the bedroom.
the people who want to leave for japan (i'm talkin' to you, dev!)
the people who watch 'the view' and/or 'oprah.'
the people who hate rye because he's a puppy.
the boys who eat shellfish and then want to kiss me (seriously, not cute. more like homicidal!).
the people who think 'lost' is dumb.
friends who act like jackasses.
people who think rent paid to me is not for my own personal spending (and that's not stella!).


oh, and stellas, who, when asked to read through for GRAMMAR! say 'oh, is okay, inga, looking good' and when we post, suddenly find lots of spelling/grammar problems! you suck, stella, SUCK!