I’m sorry for all these teaching-related stories but I’m always afraid that if I don’t record them, I’ll forget them. On a difficult day, I enjoy reading old posts and chuckling over these funny incidents.
Me: So where are culture and civilization located in Argentina according to Sarmiento?
Student: Oh, he says they are located in this. . . erm. . . whatchamacallit. . . erm. . . Barraba. . . Bubarra. . . Babarra. . .
Me: Buenos Aires.
Student: Yes, that!
I agree with about 99% of his politics but am offended by his gratuitous use of homophobic slurs. If that makes me a politically correct prude and authoritarian, so be it.
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Homophobic slurs? What homophobic slurs? I already explained my use of “faggot,” it has nothing to do with homosexuals.
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Maybe the student was referring to Barracas, a Buenos Aires neighborhood that actually resembles the Far West if you go there late at night.
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I like it how you are always optimistic about students. 🙂
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That’s why I’m a great teacher!
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Clarissa next time pick a city in Europe! Students who don’t do the reading deserve all they get.
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As I now know that my students have huge lapses in knowledge in terms of geography, we started the course by going over the names of the continents and their location on a map. I have to say that it took them a while to remember Australia. But at least they knew the name and recognized it when I mentioned it. So that’s something. 🙂
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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