Three Short Pedagogical Pieces by Sidney Fein :: Sidney Fein Literature Writers Essays

Three Short pedagogical Pieces by Sidney Fein I. Teaching Logic, or Barnabus Ploy At the last clear Professor Hugo van der Weg decided to return to Holland. Perhaps he was homesick, bemused pitched roofs and legalized narcotics, meatballs and rice table. No iodine told me. Maybe no whiz knew. Though I was deprived of the pleasure of meeting Professor v. d. w., his decamping was important for me. As Distinguished Visiting Professor (my pompous rating) I was cause to teach only two courses per semester. My department chairman for the year was a decent fellow named William Pitt, like the prime ministers. He was one of those passel who have the knack of turning high anxiety into a transmutation of charm and he telephoned at the end of August to beg me charmingly to take on another class, with no preparation and for no money, one of v. d. w.s orphans. Its logic, he declared, as if he had said something that amounted to an argument. Pardon me? The course. Its 210, Logic. Please? c lean please? He then proceeded breathlessly, as though convincing me were a matter of speaking a runon sentence as rapidly as possible. Look, I wouldnt dare to ask but its a requirement for a lot of our students, though you shouldnt have more than twentyfive all together, so it wouldnt be fair just to cancel it and theres nobody else who can take it onwell, except for Harold Whitson but hes already agreed to do The Flying Dutchmans freethinking seminar for me so I cant possibly ask him. No, that wouldnt be fair. I could virtually hear him throwing his gaze heavenwards. What can I do? Deans have it middling easy they can rely on simple bullying. But I think one of the criteria by which department chairmen are selected must be their ability to get people to sigh and say okay. So I sighed and said okay. Butlogic? The class really was a requirement, as Pitt said, though in a respect he didnt mention. The Philosophy department, by chance Pitt himself, had maneuvered things so that PH2 10, Logic, could be taken to fulfill the undergraduate math requirement. era this clever bit of academic politicking insured a healthy enrollment, divide of FTEs in the lingo of the trade, and looked good on the accounting sheet of the wisdomlovers, it too guaranteed classes filled with the reluctant, resentful, and resigned.