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Jul. 27th, 2005 10:01 pmI. Have. The best. Teachers. Ever.
Which is not to say that this wasn’t true last semester, or the year before that, or the year before that. Anne was my lecturer last sem, and I always knew she was cool (if prone to occasionally saying things that initially sounded off base.) But was nervous this sem, because this time, am only one English studies subject and two of the other three is politics/history, which I haven’t really done at uni-level. (And hell. Was nothing more than just okay back at IB level in Brent. This causes twitching of fingers.)
But! But! I walk into these class and the teachers turn out to be the coolest people. Ever. And not just because Michael Dutton is Irish and “Bonofies” himself for our amusement, and indifferently curses in class. Not just because Charles Schencking is funny, and eloquent and not just because both have ridiculous heads for facts and trivia and numbers on their respective subjects. Well yes, those things too. But they’re brilliant teachers, and Charles, especially, provokes people in class, encourages us to challenge them upfront. Which I haven’t encountered for a long time in Melbourne Uni. Sure, our teachers have, from day one, encouraged us to discuss things with them, and take pains to assure us that it’s OKAY to disagree.
But not like these guys. Charles calls on people in *class,* not in tutes, and encourages us to talk to him, and to argue the hell out of each other. Michael pimps Jung Chung’s Mao: The Unknown Story, which, he picks bones with a thousand times over, but encourages us to read it anyway, and if we agree with it, “To tell us we’re full of shit.”
*loves*
Which is not to say that this wasn’t true last semester, or the year before that, or the year before that. Anne was my lecturer last sem, and I always knew she was cool (if prone to occasionally saying things that initially sounded off base.) But was nervous this sem, because this time, am only one English studies subject and two of the other three is politics/history, which I haven’t really done at uni-level. (And hell. Was nothing more than just okay back at IB level in Brent. This causes twitching of fingers.)
But! But! I walk into these class and the teachers turn out to be the coolest people. Ever. And not just because Michael Dutton is Irish and “Bonofies” himself for our amusement, and indifferently curses in class. Not just because Charles Schencking is funny, and eloquent and not just because both have ridiculous heads for facts and trivia and numbers on their respective subjects. Well yes, those things too. But they’re brilliant teachers, and Charles, especially, provokes people in class, encourages us to challenge them upfront. Which I haven’t encountered for a long time in Melbourne Uni. Sure, our teachers have, from day one, encouraged us to discuss things with them, and take pains to assure us that it’s OKAY to disagree.
But not like these guys. Charles calls on people in *class,* not in tutes, and encourages us to talk to him, and to argue the hell out of each other. Michael pimps Jung Chung’s Mao: The Unknown Story, which, he picks bones with a thousand times over, but encourages us to read it anyway, and if we agree with it, “To tell us we’re full of shit.”
*loves*
