QOTW: What would you teach?
If you could be a college professor…what class would you teach?
Crawford’s Answer
Mary came up with this question and I think it’s a great one. It’s something I’ve never thought about before she mentioned it and I’ll be completely honest…I’m really struggling with an answer. Part of me wants to go with something deep and meaningful…but another part of me wants to go with something silly…or cool…or really creepy and strange.
Of course whatever it is I’m teaching I would have to have a PhD in so that makes the choice all the more critical. And the more I think about it the more I realize that I wouldn’t want to be some stogy old Philosophy professor that wears tweed jackets or a freakishly brilliant math professor that is mildly insane…or even a very wacky physics professor with wild hair who talks with his hands all the time.
So what would I choose?
A certain movie comes to mind. It’s about 3 professors who get kicked out of school. They’ve never had a real job before but their knowledge, their wit and yes…their wisdom…leads them on wonderful adventures that make them the talk of the town.
Of course I am talking about Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz, and Dr. Egon Spengler…also known as The Ghostbusters.
But that doesn’t count in my mind. They taught but aren’t teachers. They bust ghosts and that’s a whole other story.
So…I must choose. And suddenly a light bulb goes off in my mind. There was another great professor. He had truly wonderful adventures. He was smart…brilliant perhaps. But he was also tough. He saw the world. His students loved him and deservedly so for he not only taught his subject…he LIVED his subject.
And that is why I would want to be a Professor of Archeology…
I would want to be…
Indiana Jones.
Moe’s Answer
I was an Art major in college. During that time period there was a stretch where I really considered getting my masters in Art and becoming a college professor.
In my experience, I had a much closer relationship with my Art professors than I did with most of my other professors. I had so many lecture hall classes that had well over a hundred students in them. I know that in those classes I never, not even once, spoke to my teacher one on one. I can’t imagine that being at all enjoyable, granted, these professors probably had grad students that they worked with on a much more intimate basis but still, I think that would totally suck.
I knew all my art professors very well, I had conversations with all of them on a one on one level on a weekly basis. I am sure I wasn’t special either, I’d be willing to bet that their relationship with their students was like this with 90% of the people in their classes.
On a different note, on a stereotypical basis, the kids who are majoring in art tend to be a little more unique and… how to put this… colorful. To me that would be great, teaching a bunch of kids who want to be business clones and little worker bees would drive me nuts. There were also very few frat boys (sorry Crawford) in the art department which was a plus in my book.
So my answer is an Art professor, since my emphasis was in Metals that would be what I would teach.