How obvious does one have to get though? Come on. We shut them out. I make a joke about us being completely unable to stop their O and people don't get I'm sarcastic? I didn't think I needed to display that "Sarcasm Alert" little dude.

Mass - That's because you're from Mass. People there talk funny. I can't understand your accent half the time.

"zombieslayer" wrote:

No. Students shouldn't be prepared for how cruel life can be outside the classroom whatsoever. So absolutely not.

"zombieslayer" wrote:

Re: sarcasm....

Here's a question for everyone.

I was at a meeting of a group of faculty earlier this term, talking about pedagogy, curriculum, the usual blah blah. At one point I said that, in the right hands, sarcasm can be a valuable teaching tool, even sarcasm that might appear to be "personal"-directed.

In proper academic wishy-washiness, I did make sure and add several qualifications: has to be used sparingly, has to be done in hands of an expert teacher, has to be done in a class where rapport has already been developed, etc.

I was trying to make the point that in the real world, you have to learn how to deal with this sort of thing beyond taking umbrage and offense, and that in fact sometimes such things can be useful to us.

People looked at me in the usual way (i.e., "Wade's a loon"), and just ripped into the very idea. Phrases like "absolutely not," "never," "completely unacceptable" abounded.

So what do you think? Should personal remarks, sarcasm, biting wit, etc, be completely verboten in the undergraduate classroom?

I'm a right hegemonic bastard, I am.

"Wade" wrote: