Back to teaching today. Several students from last year signing up for other classes I'm teaching. One of them overheard a student from my freshman comp. class remark that they were "stuck with the handicapped professor."
*blink*
I must confess a little outrage. Normally, I'd find it funny, and I do, to a degree, but something about it cut me The Wrong Way.
Had I heard it, all that would have been left was a smoking, greasy crater in the sidewalk.
About Me
- Paul
- Paul Guest is the author of four volumes of poetry and a memoir. His debut, The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World, was awarded the 2002 New Issues Poetry Prize. His second collection, Notes for My Body Double, was awarded the 2006 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. His third collection, My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge, was published by Ecco Press/HarperCollins in 2008. His fourth collection, Because Everything Is Terrible, was published by Diode Editions. His poems have appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Poetry, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. His memoir, One More Theory About Happiness, was published by Ecco in May 2010 and selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. The recipient of a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2007 Whiting Writers' Award, Guest lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
11 comments:
That's really icky. Would such a student say they were stuck with the "black" professor? Or the "woman" professor? Such people make me want to take my wig off.
You take off your wig, Allison, and I'll take off my shoe. Time for a beat down on those little punks.
What can I use as a third?
I thought that kind of immaturity and ignorance stopped in high school.
I'll hold them while you guys cane 'em. Seriously . . .
Disappointed to hear about such ignorant statements, Paul. Please do take comfort in the fact that I read your blog every morning, and your poems are a wonderful way to kickstart my day. Yours, Peter G
Paul,
This happens to me every semester. As a consequence, I teach a disability unit every semester. Last year, I taught Peter Singer versus Harriet McBryde. I also discuss my disability on the first day and urge then to ask questions. Good Luck!
Jen Bartlett
sigh
It's not right, but remember the age group. Many students still have a ways to go.
Model onward
Age is no excuse for ignorance. As college students, they're almost adults.
Peter
I've been teaching college a long time, and I've taught a lot of freshmen in the past. Truthfully, they can be very immature. Many of them are still holding onto highschool mentality. As college teachers, we do have a chance to help them to "see" and to grow, and I bet you do that really well. Carry on!
Is it true, is Paul Guest becoming bitter to the arogance of youth? I remember being the victim to your rath more than once, and I am probably better for it. You may be paralyzed, but you are far from handicapped! Sit tall...and let the rest of the world go to hell!
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