Why Does a Dog Lick Hisself all the time?

Dear Jeff,

I would be embarrassed at my non-stop
persistence (Virginia called it, years ago)
in the face of surrounding industrial-ness,
my more or less redundant monopolizing
or FacultyL (not that there’s no room in
the Inn for all); but it’s because I’m a

SCHOLAR (schola: leisure-time)

Old-schola for sure, & dedicated
to my schola-ship & my faculties
development.

I may be the only one with the leisure
(schoolery) to persist (toward frontiers
yet unknown), in fact I’m pretty sure I
am.

Representative Myn.

And it’s not my message that counts,
either. Obviously. But the MEDIA:
that we can (converse across the
curriculum) like a dog that licks hisself.

I'd rather have us spend a little longer
contemplating the idea that maybe our
classes really are too easy,

Maybe it's our responsibility to make
them better. I happen to subscribe to
the radical proposition that what we do
in class makes a difference, and that
we can do better.

It's not just the student's responsibility.
I also happen to subscribe to the even
more radical proposition that students
are pretty good at telling whether they
are learning anything. Not perfect by
any means, but then how good are you
at telling if they're learning anything?

The beauty is: we can—spend time
contemplating the ease-to-rigor
ratios of our classes. If we were
auto-makers, we’d have to.

As far as making them better: I suspect
it’s a reciprocal deal. Not unilateral.
I suspect its an Environ-mental deal,
not just a classroom.

As far as any of us on either side of
the desk being pretty good at telling
whether we are learning anything…
I don’t trust us on this—or me
either, and all the forms and polls
and rubrics and course evaluations
and zippo administrative evaluations:
pretty sure they do more to retard
and eclipse then generate.





.