RIGOR is the Answer

Dear Colleagues Across the Curriculum,
 
"We can't solve problems by using the
same kind of thinking we used when we
              created them” 
 
Einstein said that—along with imagination
being more important than knowledge and
the only thing that interferes with my
learning is my education  or on another note:
education is  what remains after one has
forgotten everything he learned  in school &
the only real  valuable thing is intuition; but
Einstein was  smart and that was easy for him
to  say and these bromides are like don’t-
postpone-joy bumper stickers  and be-here-
nowfor crying out loud.
 
We all go yeah yeah and continue to go about
our industrial business in earnest: cerebral work
program uber alles and get R done.
 
To all those problems we face :  retention and
student culture  and compliance and turbulent
times
 
       Rigor is the answer.
 
First day of class: I let them know what’s going
to happen, their responsibilities and obligations,
textual assignments, attendance and cut-policies
and repercussions, dead lines for papers & reper
cussions,  talking in class for credit, pop quizzes
to ensure reading, study skills and writing work
shops for certified & uncertified  learning disabled,
my office hours—any questions?  Syllabus!
 
I want to make sure they connect the dots between
academics, work, and service, that they know why
they are here and where they are  going—their aims
and measurable  goals, what it takes to be wellness,
and good.

   The opposite of a profound truth  in another profound truth.
   Neils Bohr (The opposite of a trivial truth is a contra diction.)
 
         Rigor is NOT the Answer
 
I’ve already e-mailed all my classes to tell them that
my courses are a JOKE—and they may get it (the
punch line) or they may not, and then I go on to
rationalize and maybe demonstrate how
incommensurate the values of my
courses are with “them other guys”
—and if you measure and assess one kind
(mine) in terms of  the other kind (yours) it'd be
a depravity,  contamination, abomination : a reduction
and offense (if not ridiculous) to The Liberal Art.
 
I’m not connecting any dots for them,  or care if they do
the work or not (honestly) , hoping they’ll put IT in play
(IT, I tell them: do I got to be spelling IT out for you?) 
& somewhat of a good time had probably not by all but I
can't force the issue.

Well, I can.  Anyone can.  
 
                   2 economies here

               The economy of rigor.
               The economy of free play.

Or is it just always the sound of one hand clap, clap,
clapping sound and fury?

Nevermind.

       "We can't solve problems by using the same
     kind of thinking we used  when we created them."

Need we argue?  

xxxooo, Sam