It was ever thus.

In a lecture yesterday, sitting at the back of the room, I watched as the students, most of whom around half my age, texted friends, checked e-mail, doodled, or watched movies on their laptop.

It was almost 80 degrees in the room -- a good 40 degrees warmer than outside -- and it was near the end of a long day. The text we were considering gave the following diagnosis of the student mind:

The pupils themselves are not without blame: they have abandoned the Pythagorean model of teaching, according to which a pupil should listen and believe for seven years, and ask questions only in the eighth. Instead, from the first day of school, even before sitting down, they question and, in fact, what is worse, they pass judgment. They study carelessly for the space of a single year, and think that the whole of wisdom has accrued to them, whereas they have merely snatched rags from it; they leave school full of the wind of loquacity and pride, empty of a solid knowledge of things. And when their parents or others listen to them and discover that there is little or nothing of any use in what they say, they are at once led to believe that this is all the pupils received from their teachers: so the authority of the teacher is impaired.

The author:

William of Conches, who wrote the above approximately 860 years ago.

--T.A.

Comments

[Danny]

MOVIES? Some of the students were watching MOVIES on their laptops? Seriously? I don't think I'd survive very long as a college professor because the first time I saw any such activity during class I'd probably grab the cell phones, iPods, and computers and hurl them against the wall. Then there'd be a ton of lawsuits against the school and I'd get fired.

[Mom]

The question is--Osmosis. Does stuff filter through in spite of all these seeming barriers to absorption of information? As a college freshman (1000years ago) I doodled obsessively, wrote letters to friends (i.e. the man who later became your father), and still remember having a stimulating, informative learning- filled time. Ah, youth!

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Every time I read someone saying something about "these kids today", I think "wow, haven't I heard that before?"

A little research, and you can generally find it 30 years ago, 300 years ago, and 3000 years ago.

You know, if the world has been going to hell in a handbasket for this long, maybe handbaskets aren't that efficient a means of transportation.

[May]

It is mostly the professor's responsibility to keep the students interested.

[karen]

I'm sure a lot goes ~in~. It's just a shame, the stuff that's most likely ~left out~. At financial cost.

And, isn't it too bad that(now i'm a tax-paying adult w/kids) everything boils down to the almighty $$$$?

I see you're now into Christianity? Is it too weird?

[charlotte gordon]

I love your blog. I am a professor and have been complaining to myself and my friends about the feeling I get in the classroom these days. I do not blame the students. I blame myself. Why can't I reach them? And I took such comfort from reading William of Conches. Also, I think you are a terrific writer! I am a fan of this blog, now.

[david]

Charlotte: honored and thrilled that you're a fan!

Take solace from the fact that teaching has been hard forever. Or at least, for 860 years!