Martin Luther King Jr. Day It's officially been Martin Luther King Jr. Day here in North Carolina for seventeen minutes now, and in honor, I'm going to post a quick comment from my History 101 class.
Background: In an effort to get out of teaching, the professor is on a small spiel about how memorizing dates, people, and events isn't part of the focus of a history class. In an effort to prove the obscurity of history, he references the Edict of Nantes and asks for a volunteer to explain what it was. I dislike the professor, I dislike the format of his class (I like history, give me an interesting lecture, not some group assignment to do with the mongloids in my class), and I'd been waiting patiently to bust him publically, so finally, all my hours jumping from article to article in Wikipedia paid off (I'd like to thank Hans-Georg for posting something in his blog that I had to look up that eventually led me to it). I raised my hand-
"Didn't that have something to do with lessening the oppression of Protestants in France and helping to end the religious wars?"
Any other professor in any other college would probably be happy to have someone answer a question, unfortunately I'm not there. Recovering quickly, he skips the point he was trying to make meanders back through history towards Martin Luther and then asks for another volunteer to explain who Martin Luther was. I raise my hand, forcing him to call on a girl not paying attention. Her response-
"Wasn't he the civil rights guy?"
Jackpot. He can now proceed on his original tangent, and I can proceed to put my head down and go to sleep. To me, this class may as well be 5-credit, four days a week plus lab Chemistry for Engineers back at the Grove- I don't plan to be awake much for this one either. The only difference is that instead of making valence electron jokes with Redhurt in the back row I'll actually pass.
Anyway, Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I'm off to Wilmington in the morning to play some golf and you know, sit back and appreciate how far we've come.
Anyway,
Background: In an effort to get out of teaching, the professor is on a small spiel about how memorizing dates, people, and events isn't part of the focus of a history class. In an effort to prove the obscurity of history, he references the Edict of Nantes and asks for a volunteer to explain what it was. I dislike the professor, I dislike the format of his class (I like history, give me an interesting lecture, not some group assignment to do with the mongloids in my class), and I'd been waiting patiently to bust him publically, so finally, all my hours jumping from article to article in Wikipedia paid off (I'd like to thank Hans-Georg for posting something in his blog that I had to look up that eventually led me to it). I raised my hand-
"Didn't that have something to do with lessening the oppression of Protestants in France and helping to end the religious wars?"
Any other professor in any other college would probably be happy to have someone answer a question, unfortunately I'm not there. Recovering quickly, he skips the point he was trying to make meanders back through history towards Martin Luther and then asks for another volunteer to explain who Martin Luther was. I raise my hand, forcing him to call on a girl not paying attention. Her response-
"Wasn't he the civil rights guy?"
Jackpot. He can now proceed on his original tangent, and I can proceed to put my head down and go to sleep. To me, this class may as well be 5-credit, four days a week plus lab Chemistry for Engineers back at the Grove- I don't plan to be awake much for this one either. The only difference is that instead of making valence electron jokes with Redhurt in the back row I'll actually pass.
Anyway, Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I'm off to Wilmington in the morning to play some golf and you know, sit back and appreciate how far we've come.
Anyway,
posted by Justin at 12:16 AM 
5 Comments:
Glad I could help with the reference. Way to make history professors look stupid!
I'm working on that new template. Serious.
So, back in my homeschooler days...I had to go to this meeting of area homeschoolers like once a month. In december, various kids gave presentations on the origins of Christmas traditions. I remember one kid who boldly proclaimed that "The Christmas tree was invented by Martin Luther King, Jr." Aparently, the protestant reformer and the civil rights leader are often taken for each other. I mean, why not? One is white with an ugly monk hair cut, lived in the 15th century, and one is black, wore pocket squares and lived in the 20th century. I can see how they could get mixed up.
Are you saying Martin Luthor King Jr. didn't nail his 95 Theses to the door of the Alabama Supreme Court?
*Luther* My apologies, I confused him racist Superman's arch-nemesis.
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