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Lighter moments (Was: Caving in.)




On Mon, 2 Dec 1996, Keith C. Tipton wrote:

I am at the end of my rope with my kids, whiners all... I could use good
advice, good stories or good jokes to make this end-of-year crunch a little
easier!

What a great suggestion, Keith. Let's share some lighter moments from our
teaching.

Speaking, as we were, of excuses, I recall a student years ago, during the
60s, who was very bright, but not very dedicated, and cut class
frequently. One day he came in my office to apologize for missing class.
That in itself was unusual. Then he explained that he'd been experimenting
with halucinogenic drugs (yet again) and tried nutmeg, but took too much
and was totally zonked. I thought he was pulling my leg, but later I
learned that it can have some interesting effects in large enough doses.

Then there was a young lady who showed up to class with her textbook
looking as if it had been through the flood of '72. When I asked what
happened, she said that she likes to study physics while relaxing in the
bathtub, and accidentally dozed off. One doesn't question an excuse like
that.

And other student came to me at the end of the semester, asking whether I
thought the bookstore would give her a refund on her physics book. It was
defective. A whole signature (something like 64 pages) was blank,
somewhere around chapter 2, and she hadn't noticed that fact till she
began to study for the final exam.

Have you ever been tempted to say to a student "You really ought to read
your textbook. Or are you waiting until they make it into the "TV Movie of
the Week"?

-- Donald

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Dr. Donald E. Simanek Office: 717-893-2079
Prof. of Physics Internet: dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu
Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA. 17745 CIS: 73147,2166
Home page: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek FAX: 717-893-2047
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