Monday, May 21, 2007

trying my hand at parables

I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, but anyway I've been thinking about this a lot lately...

A physics teacher has two particular students in his class he's keeping an eye on to see if they can pass his class.

He's interested in keeping the classroom orderly so he can impart the subject material to the kids... physics is complicated stuff, but if they'll listen he can get it through to them.

"Alright you two, you're going to listen to me because I'm in charge in this class. Everything I tell you is going to be true, because in this classroom I am it. If you act up, you're going to detention. If you realize who the big cheese in this room is, you might just pass this here class with flying colors." The teacher goes on over the next several weeks to explain torque, how to calculate for a drag coefficient, and other complex physics notions.

He tries his best to use language and terms the kids understand, but being heavy material they still pester him with questions... "but why is this? why can't it be easier? Why do I have to learn this?" Sometimes he tries to explain it, but often he resorts to "that's just how it works" and perhaps even the occasional "just trust me, I know." He occasionally reminds them that he's the one with all the answers.

It's the day before the final exam, and the teacher asks the students what sorts of questions they expect to see on the final.

One says "I figure it will be applying the various physics lessons that you tried to impart to us. I don't pretend to have gotten it all, but I have been trying all year long and I think the exam will show I'm trying to understand."

The second one says "I think the exam will be asking us who's in charge. And you're in charge! You have the information, and you're running the show!"

The question: Who do you think will pass the test?

The better question: What's on The Big Test? And with our religion class, are we to focus on the Teacher, or on the lectures?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What if half of the lessons are about him being in charge? What if the teacher keeps saying that will be on the final exam? Can you just ignore that and expect to pass?

Of course, the best way would be to say he is in charge and learn all of the physics :)