A guest professor at DeVry gave my evening class, the assignment of writing an obituary. She was also a student at Agnes Scott college ( taking courses to earn a Professor degree ) and a new installment for the evening class.
The class was ALL female African Americans ( a dozen ) and the guest professor was from some small town in Georgia. I forget the name of the town; however, I will never forget the assignment.
I could sense my classmates were appalled, when she just bluntly announced "I want you all to write a obituary; so, being the comic I am ~ to ease tension ~ I asked questions about the assignment.
- you want us to write an obituary about our life's accomplishments?
- what date should we choose for our surmise?
- does the content have to be facts?
- are we to submit the assignment in regular paragraph form or newsprint format?
- how many paragraphs?
- do we get to read our obituary in class?
The guest professor was not pleased with my inquiries, after the ladies started giggling; she clarified the assignment by adding reasoning ~ the assignment was to help us focus on our careers.
We were ALL employed, that is Y we were in the evening class ~ persuing Bachelors Degrees.
One evening ~ several weeks after the Obituary assignment ~ , this same professor wore unprofessional attire to class ( black joggers top & bottom and it was showered with dandruff, fuzzballs and lint ); after taking the roll, she pulled a stool from the corner of the classroom and placed it in front of her desk. After perching, she started pulling lint from her jogging bottoms and commented: "This is the last time I will wear black"
My classmates and I looked at one another and I just held my head down ( silently scolding myself NOT to COMMENT ); no one said a word; then she wanted to share her delimma with having to have a "bat" exterminated from her home.
I could not keep my mouth shut, I had to ask ~ "Do you live in the mountains?" The ladies started laughing and the guest professor interupted, "Okay let's get to work"
A week before the end of the term, students get to evaluate Professors ~ this was Ms Smalltown's first evaluation for DeVry. Students, from the school's work/study program; entered the classroom, unannounced and handed her a note. She read the note and told us she had to step out of the classroom so we can evaluate her.
During the evaluation, we can not talk to one another ~ the process is just like taking a certification exam. It is timed and we have to lay down our pencils when the proctor tells us to. At this time I had been attending DeVry over two years, professor evaluations only takes about 20 minutes; however, students are given 40 minutes. Professor evaluations are never shared nor discussed with evaluating students.
I was also a clown in Army basic training ~ I suppose my headstone will read ~ Jan could sure make you laugh ~ RIP