(dave e)

a few words...

...from one of a set of course evaluations that arrived in my box today, some eight months after the end of the course:

"...to substitute autharian rules for actual teaching is pathetic." "I found the fachist bullshit least helpful of all." "...making the english department feel important and powerful while discaraging any creative thought." "...subjectivist bullshit."

Perhaps, one might fairly note, this student's frustration was so intense, so thoroughgoing that he or she found himself or herself unable to communicate clearly.

In fairness, I concede that a misspelled word here or there does not a weak argument make (though it sure helps). I also acknowledge that a few of this student's observations were more eloquently conveyed than those above.

Then again, these critical fragments seem to undermine their own work rather nicely. This course asked students to learn and implement the methods of rhetoric, and this unsubtle thrashing of the course (for what it's worth, the evaluation's author insists that his or her beef is with the department-wide curriculum and not the instructor) demonstrates that its author seems not to have gotten it at all. I imagine the evaluation's intended audience found itself less than entirely persuaded. I, for one, would have happily entertained a more thoughtful attack of my profession. I do it all the time.

Just so I don't tear my hair out every time I stumble on this post, I'll point out that a student from last fall's course on the novel offered the following: "DAVE ROCKED!"

Aw, shucks...

Posted by dave at March 4, 2004 6:24 PM | TrackBack