Last Updated on: 11th November 2013, 07:38 pm
Here’s something to prove that the content of the courses you’re taking really doesn’t matter. All that matters is you slogging through it and telling the prof what he wants to hear. Like I said last week, one of my profs got pretty badly smucked in a car accident. So of course they’re going to throw together guest lecturers. Yep yep I understand that. For the first little while the guest lecturers make sense. Until next week. Then for the next three weeks, we’re getting lectured to by a guy from the department of…wait for it…philosophy! This course is evolutionary psychology! What can this philosophy guy possibly know about evolutionary psychology? If we’re lucky, he’s read a couple papers about it for interest, skimming them for interesting pieces to bring up with his students while they contemplate the meaning of life.
I hear it now. “Don’t be mean to the philosophy guy. Maybe he understands more than you think.” But would you think it normal for a biology teacher to stand in for an english prof? Or the opposite? How about a computers teacher for art? It’s just weird.
I understand these are desperate times, and since the prof was willing to teach for three weeks, the poor frazzled TA was probably ecstatic and took him up on it. But it doesn’t stop there. We’re to use this guy as a resource for writing our evolutionary psych papers! How can this guy help give us pointers in a subject in which he might have mild interest at best? Why not give us a resource that might know a little more about the literature than a passing glance? If they really cared about course content, I think they would try a little harder to find us someone at least relevant to give us paper suggestions. I can swallow the lectures, even though three weeks of a guy who is basically the complete opposite of evolutionary psych is a bit weird. But I know they’re sort of under the gun and why turn down an offer like that? But come on. Isn’t there someone better for the papers? Is this philosophy guy actually going to grade these? Make me feel like the stuff I’m writing is going to be read by someone who actually knows a thing or two about this, and don’t make me feel like I’m just spewing out garbage to satisfy someone’s beliefs. Ok I already knew that, but at least give me the illusion that I’m doing something of value for my last paper in my degree.
