Sitting in the student center

[MichaelHarris]

studying for my first Con Law test I noticed something, football players don't study. They walk around and bump chests, I think it's a way to transfer knowledge. I tried it with one of them and he knocked me down. Another thing is, while my brain is older, hardened, and a bit atrophied, the younger brain seem to be a bit more gelatinous, spongy really. When they answer questions in class they use legal jargon such as, "I read that passage and I was like, wow how can they do that? It's like...." DO their notes look the same? I'm afraid to look.

I see young people all around me typing faster than me on a cell phone, they do like 3, 4 hundreds words a minute on those things. Every morning I get up, shower, put on clean clothes and head off to class. When I get there I see kids in pajamas, slippers, sweat pants, bed hair or JFL hair. I remember morning JFL hair, I had it around thirty years ago. Wonder if I should show up tomorrow in my Spidey Jammie's?



OK back to studying, just an update from, The Old Guy Back in School Diaries.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Strange, right? Like being an alien on one's own planet..

:thumbsup: :hi:

[MichaelHarris]

6. it's weird

laptops on every desk. When the teacher asks a question all you hear is keyboard clicking and that sweet sound of Googling.

[BrklynLiberal]

32. lol

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. By way of consolation,

their thumbs and wrists will be in really bad shape shortly. They'll have problems with them for the rest of their lives because of all that testing. That sucks for them, but, as you sit there, musing and entertaining (I enjoyed your post, having started law school at the advanced age of 27, surrounded by 21-year-old new college grads), you might find some small comfort in it.

Things are different, huh?

Good luck on the Con Law exam.................

[MichaelHarris]

8. Thank you

Those old Supreme Court guys write funny. They were like my wife, use 400 words when you could have said, "affirmed."

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. I taught Con Law for a couple of years,

and the most important thing I can tell you - don't you just love unsolicited advice? - is to be sure that you always put the decisions in their historical context. Dred Scott, for instance.

But there were some justices who wrote beautifully. My favorite was William O. Douglas, who took no prisoners, but there were others.

Just hang in there. Endurance and patience are the two most important traits in getting through Con Law, and your young classmates don't know that yet.

Remember, in the end, age and treachery always crush youth and energy.

:toast:

[MichaelHarris]

13. wanna

get married? I have money.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

23. Oh, man.

You just caused me to bust our laughing louder than I've laughed in a long time.

Thank you for that, but let's start out slow.

If you ever have any questions - I'm series - just PM me and maybe I can help.

But I'm still giggling.

[MichaelHarris]

25. Thank you very much

that whole indirect v direct, stream of commerce, and the other one really freak me out!

[JanMichael]

3. so what? they aren't lopping anyone's heads off, are they?

I find it interesting that hairstyles bother you on campus-- but, decapitations don't apparently mean all that much.

[MichaelHarris]

4. bed hair

is rough

[ferrous wheel]

5. Flipping channels the other morning, I paused on one long enough to see a teenage girl

send a text message on the gizmo behind her back. I thought "well, there's a skill that will someday bring her happiness..."
:shrug:

[MichaelHarris]

9. LOL they also do

butt messages. Every pair of sweat pants has some text on the butt. Seriously, I try real hard not to read it but, ummm, errrrr, Go Cougs!

[Bill McBlueState]

48. Yeah, I don't get the butt messages.

In my day, only pro wrestlers had words on their butts.

[MichaelHarris]

51. what really sucks

is bad eyesight, you have to get really close sometimes to read the butt message.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

7. Eh, don't feel too bad. I wondered the same thing when I was 18.

And now that I'm taking classes again and realize that I'm an oldster at 26 - I could have been teaching Brit lit to some of the younger kids in my accounting class.

[MichaelHarris]

10. One student asked

for my notes. She saw me using them in class and said, "where did you get all of that?" "Library", I said, "It's the Old Skool Google"

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

14. And what was left of my inner English teacher just died. nt

[MichaelHarris]

19. I butchered

that sentence? I do that every now and them, if sentence structure was a steak it would look like hamburger when I got done with it.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

21. No. You're fine.

But my seniors had major research papers due for me during the third time. We were in the library once a week (sometimes more as the deadline crept up). It makes me sad that libraries are underutilized by my generation and the ones just ahead of and behind it.

[MichaelHarris]

24. I wonder,

if I yelled Dewey Decimal System in a crowded classroom would heads explode?

[tishaLA]

54. Well, in defense of non-library users

I am currently working on my PhD in American Literature; my area of specialization is early American lit and I can do far more research in 4 hours online than I can in four days in the library. As it turns out, an academic website has every document published pre-1800 published on a searchable website. If I had to wade through microfiche, it would not only be more labor intensive, but I might not ever find what I was looking for.

[petronius]

60. I have graduating seniors who tell me they've never been in the library

Although now, the library is being converted into more of a 'Learning Commons' with study rooms of various size, couches, tables, coffee shop, etc. (it's actually quite nice).

The poster below is right, there is a huge amount of real info on line, and I get 95% of the articles I need digitally. I think the problem is two-pronged, however - many younger students not only avoid the library, they've convinced themselves that Wikipedia and Google are serious resources.

My favorite student comment in the past few years was "this doesn't look right to me, but it came from Wiki so I know it's credible." :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

15. Oh, man.........

I went to law school before computers, and we had to learn a thing called "Shepherdizing," which meant picking up one volume and tracing it back to the preceding and on and on.

This is going to be the first time I've ever used this phrase, so I guess now I'm officially old, but here goes:

Kids today don't know how good they have it.

I shall retire now to my rocking chair and rub Aspercreme all over my gums.

[Horse with no Name]

27. Can you rub Aspercreme on your gums?

;)
However, Preparation H is a lifesaver.
Takes away those wrinkles around your eyes.:)

[JerseygirlCT]

50. Amen to that

I was with my husband as he endured law school - mostly pre-computers (some mainframes around, lol).

I was also an English major, and I keep thinking about how much easier life would have been with a word processor instead of a typewriter. I still have trouble with a typewriter, though I can type on a keyboard speedy-like, lol. But typing the damn papers was the hard part, not writing them!

[SmileyRose]

12. What is JFL hair?

[MichaelHarris]

16. here it is in a nutshell

Go to the bedroom and have really good sex then walk into the bathroom, look into the mirror at your hair. That's JFL hair. Almost everyone in the 80s had it.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

26. Go google

"JFL hair".

[orleans]

40. i see the implication for it, but what do the initials stand for? n/t

[Tangerine LaBamba]

49. Once again,

google "jfl hair," and then read what google brings up.

You really are gaming me here, aintcha?

[orleans]

53. i did google it. i told you what i found. thanks for all your help. jakslk.

[Name removed]

56. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Uzybone]

61. your google sucks

mine said "just fucked look"

[Tangerine LaBamba]

62. Mine worked, too..

I checked it before suggesting it.

I thought maybe the poster was just gaming me, but, no, it turns out she's really that dim.

Ah, DU - a place for all kinds.

[vanderBeth]

17. In my day

we didn't have these sweatpants for class. We would get dressed up for our class like it meant something. If you had an early class we would have to get up at two in the morning to start getting ready and you would be too tired to remember anything and you failed that's the way we LIKED IT!

[MichaelHarris]

20. hahahahahaha

Hey, that's what I look like in class raising my hand.

[aikoaiko]

18. Studying in a student center is like looking for Jesus in an all nude strip club.

not efficient.

[MichaelHarris]

22. LMAO!

Man WSU has a lot of Jesuses walking around. There is a sub-set of guys who are not Goth but more Jesus.

[Suich]

28. LOL!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Thanks for a really funny thread!

[blaze]

30. Ditto!

Best thread tonight!!

Thanks for the chuckles! :)

[Zynx]

29. Like, I think like, that the issue here is, like you know, you need to like calm down, totally.

;-)

I sympathize with you. I can't stand most people my own age.

[MichaelHarris]

34. HAHAHAHAHAHAA

man you nailed it! That's exactly how they answer. I just checked my notes from today and I have pages and pages of that.

[MadHound]

31. As another Old Guy Back in School,

I understand where you're coming from. But I also remember back to when I was their age and how I used to roll into school. Sure, no jammies or JFL hair, but for lots of us back in the day, 4:20 came around twice in a day, morning and evening. Made those early morning classes much more entertaining.

But if you cut through the usual detrius, the clothes, the fads, etc. and the usual stuff (jocks were chest bumping a quarter century ago, with just as much effect), there are some very smart and dedicated young people ready to come into the real world. Yes, there are some that you wonder about and shake your head about, but all in all I think that the proportions are about the same as back in the day.

However I do hear you about the library. Most students think that it's someplace to either study or use the computer and that the books are simply decoration.

[MichaelHarris]

35. I am amazed

also, there are more than a hand full that really do know their stuff. There is a football player in the Con Law class that blows me away. If you look at him and did the book, cover, judge thing you would see baggy pants, backward hat hip hopper. When he's called on his mind goes into high gear, he does his research.

[SheilaT]

33. I've been attending college on and off

my entire adult life, which is many generations of students by now.

What was most interesting was the ten year period I spent taking classes at my local junior college. I got older, and I was always in a classroom full of nineteen year olds. When I started there, my kids were in grade school. By the time I finished, my kids were as old or older than my fellow students.

I used to tell them that the reason I made straight A's was because I always went to class and I always did my homework. And to make up for being such an annoying adult, I baked chocolate chip cookies on test days. I lived quite near the campus, so I could bring them to class still warm from the oven.

[MichaelHarris]

36. I will do a

whole rump roast for a B in Constitutional Law.

[elleng]

37. THANKS for a great thread!

Been there, done that!

[MichaelHarris]

41. this may be my jammies

[elleng]

52. OOOOOH, I don't LIKE those jammies!

.

[SheilaT]

46. Trust me, chocolate chip cookies

still warm from the oven gets an A every time, at least at the community college level.

In fact, I got so the first time in any given class I showed up with the cookies, I'd loudly state, "I expect to get an A in this class". It always got a laugh, and (since I can't afford a large enough monetary bribe) that if an instructor could be bribed for a few chocolate chip cookies, at least there'd be no paper or cash trail to investigate.

[Adsos Letter]

38. I hear ya'...

I'm 53 and finishing grad school...it's weird...

[orleans]

39. only if they have the built in footies. n/t

[MichaelHarris]

42. these do

[orleans]

43. LOL! michael! what are you doing still up?? and on here? i thought you

were studying.

and what the hell? wear your spiderman pjs (costume, whatever). maybe leave the hood at home--the hood and gloves make it a bit scary. especially at 7am!

:rofl:

[MichaelHarris]

44. LOL

I'm winding down. Just finished my notes for tomorrows test and I'm a little jazzed. I'm almost ready to hit slobberland.

[Habibi]

45. You should blog your "Old Guy Back in School" experience!

It'd be entertaining and instructive.


I'm toying with going back to school for a certificate, if I can ever find a way to pay for it. Grad credits are outrageously expensive.

[RandomKoolzip]

47. I'm a returning student, too....

Trying to get my BA in English and then my Master's in library Science....got about four semesters left before I get that Master's.

Anyhow, academic standards seemed to have plummetted dramatically since I was in college the last time (back in 96-97), at least in the English studies arena. I edit their papers sometimes - and these are English majors! - and on average, they're writing at about a seventh grade level. Seriously. We're seeing the sad results of what happens when you cut education funding and refuse to hold children to high standards - they're turning in papers that my seventh-grade English teacher would have rejected, and their instructors are giving them As and Bs. Kids can't write for shit, they don't know how to use the language, they have no knowledge of any literature written between 1914 and the present (they sure do love Jane Austen, though), and they all seem to think that those "Twilight" books constitute real literature. The school I go to is heavily Catholic, too, so these kids all are fairly liberal, except when it comes to abortion; they all go to "pro-life" marches and shit. Oh, and they're all into fairy tales and fantasy books and shit, too. And what the fuck IS it with vampires?! You put a vampire in ANYTHING and these kids'll buy it, rent it, form a cult around it.

Nobody does acid anymore. Everyone I know who's my age (33) used to do acid. I don't know anyone under 25 here who's ever taken it - and it shows in their behavior. They all drink like fish...most of their weekday nights they spend gagging down liquor by the bucketful. Very few of them smoke pot - some of them do coke when they can find it.

Most students spend class time texting others under their desk during lectures. I'm the only one in my class who raises his hand, asks questions, and participates, because I don't text people during class. I mean, it IS kinda rude, isn't it? These teachers get paid shit, tuition's expensive, and you spend your school day...typing "LOL!" to one another under your desk? Um, like, WTF? And you wonder why us older folks think you're a bunch of shallow, self-centered lightweights....

The music they listen to is pretty mediocre, too. They'll settle for Iron and Wine or Death Cab and Radiohead and tell themselves those bands represent some apotheosis. If you played them Shudder to Think or Guideed by Voices their heads'd prolly essplode.

In short, I have no idea who these people are, and I'm kinda disappointed in the future if THIS is who it is who's gonna populate it. I was hoping some of the energy and weirdness and individualism of the 90s would carry over. This isn't just the rantings of a grumpy old man, either - i WANTED these kids to be crazier and craftier than i was back in the day, and they just ain't cuttin' it. They love their nose rings because it provides them with an easy orifice in which their masters can slip in their fingers and lead them around, like cows....

[Missy Vixen]

55. Football players. Drool.

Yes, I'm old, but ooh, I still love looking at them. ;-)

Michael, it's always interesting to talk with college students. I feel like I'm in some kind of foreign country -- you know the one. No cell phones, the prehistoric answering machine and VCR, the fact I actually had to get up in the morning and get dressed to attend class.

I know you're doing great. You'll show those whippersnappers. In the meantime, :rofl: on the JBL hair. I always thought it was JBF, but hey, I've learned something new!

[tekisui]

57. I am sharing your experience.

Not as old as you, but older than the other students. In my ConLaw class, it's the same story. Uh, like, is was this dude....

I totally relate.

[Blue Belle]

58. Oh my God... this is so true.

I'm 38 and a Junior at a small, academically competitive, Liberal Arts college. The students here are brilliant, and the level of multi-tasking is phenomenal. I thought they were taking note on their laptops, but half the time they are im'ing, texting or working on their face book page. the thing is, they still give smart, thoughtful responses in class discussion - all while they are doing this stuff! On the flip side, I'm one of the only ones who hauls my spiral binder to class and takes notes the old fashioned way - and I bust my ass to keep up.

[Dreamer Tatum]

59. Maybe you should study somewhere else?

You're studying for something as serious as a Con Law exam in the Student Union, and you're allowing yourself to be distracted by football players (how do you know they're football players?)?