There were two doors, both of which strategically placed on the teacher’s side of the class room to prevent people from escaping once attendance was taken. Some of our class rooms did have elevations as one progressed towards the back benches, but sleep was still not a luxury and a nap could be had whenever one chose to.
Back in college again after a break of nearly five years, and I noticed that our class rooms here were referred to as lecture theaters. Two terms down and one day into the third term, the aptness of its nomenclature is making itself more evident each day.
You don’t have to buy tickets to sit in these theaters, but you all have allocated seats where you get to be for two hours at a stretch. We have breaks in between classes (thankfully, I might add) after an hour, much like the intervals one gets during movies.
Just like in the movies, you have chumps coming in late, disrupting your experience in the theater and being a general killjoy. I must confess, however, that there have been a few times I have been late too. But more often than not, I’ve managed to be present on or before time. I used to do that on dates too when I could formerly go on them, so no big deal there either.
Students are allowed to bring in food, stuff to drink and whatever else gets them through the class without being disruptive and causing others pain. Similar to the movies where you end up buying soft drinks, pop corn and light snacks. I’ve taken the liberty of taking a burger to class, a cup of coffee, juice, a five star candy bar, a tub of ice cream and so on and so forth.
However, the one thing that well and truly makes you draw the best parallel with a theater is the person standing bang in the middle of it all – the Professor. Their mastery and command over the subject is something else, which in turn is evident if one is able to perform the requisite pre-reads for the subject before going to class.
Each two hour lecture, barring the odd boring lecture on an insipid, uninspiring topic invariably ends up being a virtuoso performance in itself. Professors here have a funny bone, and you can crack jokes while making a relevant point and they’d parry with you, or up the ante with a few (hopefully unrepeated) jokes themselves.
Some of them had been full of obscure pop-culture references, especially in the macroeconomics class I had last term, and while I think I’ve done woefully in the exams as I have in most other papers too, the fun I had in hanging onto the Prof’s every word made it seem as though I was in a theater rather than in an actual class.
I think it is testament to the capabilities of these people who have actually inspired me further to want to take up teaching as a long term career after I’m done with some of the more crazy things I wish to accomplish. Some of those aforesaid ‘crazy things’ will most definitely be blegged about. Stay tuned.
PS – 600 word limit are there. Yay. Bleh.
Such joy
low SNR.