kammisue
02-03-2012, 06:52 AM
Many courses in college are a complete waste of time and money. To me, algebra fits that category and was by far my most difficult and painful requirement. I struggled mightily to get through this course. I was right in that I have never used an algebraic equation since turning in my last test over fifty years ago. To be a teacher, you must take courses in Education. Courses in Education are b-o-r-i-n-g! I suspect that an hour of the course would be sufficient.. You would need to know what a curriculum is and why it is needed. The Latin meaning for curriculum is racetrack. Now that I have gotten the attention of you NASCAR fans, I will proceed. I'm sure that, like Democrats and Republicans, I could get a lot of arguments. As for Principles in Education, I might even get an argument from myself. . . of course the teacher is the all important factor. Dr. Clifton Hall was a Professor of Education at George Peabody College. He was not your ordinary professor. He learned to read upside down at his grandmother's knee while she read to him when he was only three years old. He worked with students on their doctoral dissertations, taught courses in Education and even French. He reportedly gave a speech to some Vanderbilt University professors, who looked down their pedantic noses at Peabody professors. He, of course, gave the entire speech in Latin. He had a photographic memory. He was sixty nine years of age when I came to know him. He looked like a little Prussian General, not that I would know one if I were to see one. He liked routines and had a habit of going and sitting in the sunshine adjacent to the Student Union Building every Saturday at 1:30 in the afternoon. I was so intrigued by his great intellect, that I would go to his area shortly before he got there and wait for his arrival. I wanted it to appear that he had walked into my presence. I wanted to soak up all that he had to offer. One week, Bobby Kennedy and Sargent Shriver came to the campus and left a boatload of money that ultimately changed much of the school's curriculum. Dr. Hall was not pleased with this change and the next Saturday recited a poem that he had written about the matter. It took him 35 minutes to recite the poem. He was to retire that year and had applied to teach at the University of Tennessee. He told us that he had to go through the usual routine of listing his publications. It had taken 24 pages to list his titles. In short, the man's intellect was super astounding. How did he happen to be at Peabody? He said that he liked the climate.
Dr. Hall's course in Education was such that I always arrived early and sat up front, so as not to miss anything. Nobody. . . I mean NOBODY, ever interrupted this great man's lectures. Of course, he had never had me for a student. He kept an index card file of all his students and their anecdotal records. He had taught Andy Griffith while being at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Hall liked to talk about Alexander the Great. One day he was lecturing and brought up a subject regarding Alexander. I, in my umbrage and audacity, raised my hand. He peered down at me and said, "yes, Mr. Adams?" I said to him, "Dr. Hall, I have a little known story about Alexander the Great." Looking at me for a second or two, he said, "well let's hear it." With a most serious look on my face, I brought out the fact that Alexander's armies liked to surround a town or city at night and attack during the wee hours of the morning while the inhabitants were sound asleep. He would station his generals at various points outside the city and attack at a near precise time. This, of course would not allow the citizens any warning and would throw them into an unorganized panic allowing for a quick and decisive defeat. How could the generals attack simultaneously from great distances without clocks or watches? Alexander would meet with his Generals, tear strips of cloth and dip them into a chemical concoction that would begin to react some hours later on the cloth and would immediately change the color of the cloth. He would then tie the strip of cloth on the arms of his Generals . They would then go to their designated area , sit by a fire and wait for the color to change. When the change occurred, they would immediately go into battle from all sides of the city. "Dr. Hall," I said, " this strategically uncanny and brilliant procedure helped Alexander to conquer the known world, "And of course, it has come to be famously known as Alexander's Rag Time Band." I still chuckle when I remember the look on his face and his comment. "That's awful," he said.
~Tony Adams
Dr. Hall's course in Education was such that I always arrived early and sat up front, so as not to miss anything. Nobody. . . I mean NOBODY, ever interrupted this great man's lectures. Of course, he had never had me for a student. He kept an index card file of all his students and their anecdotal records. He had taught Andy Griffith while being at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Hall liked to talk about Alexander the Great. One day he was lecturing and brought up a subject regarding Alexander. I, in my umbrage and audacity, raised my hand. He peered down at me and said, "yes, Mr. Adams?" I said to him, "Dr. Hall, I have a little known story about Alexander the Great." Looking at me for a second or two, he said, "well let's hear it." With a most serious look on my face, I brought out the fact that Alexander's armies liked to surround a town or city at night and attack during the wee hours of the morning while the inhabitants were sound asleep. He would station his generals at various points outside the city and attack at a near precise time. This, of course would not allow the citizens any warning and would throw them into an unorganized panic allowing for a quick and decisive defeat. How could the generals attack simultaneously from great distances without clocks or watches? Alexander would meet with his Generals, tear strips of cloth and dip them into a chemical concoction that would begin to react some hours later on the cloth and would immediately change the color of the cloth. He would then tie the strip of cloth on the arms of his Generals . They would then go to their designated area , sit by a fire and wait for the color to change. When the change occurred, they would immediately go into battle from all sides of the city. "Dr. Hall," I said, " this strategically uncanny and brilliant procedure helped Alexander to conquer the known world, "And of course, it has come to be famously known as Alexander's Rag Time Band." I still chuckle when I remember the look on his face and his comment. "That's awful," he said.
~Tony Adams