Syllabus day. The day students and staff show up to campus and everyone just pretends we’re ready for classes to start again. Even though many of us don’t expect to learn anything beyond the plagiarism policy from the first class meetings, here are three lessons that managed to surprise me this week.
1. “Professor, I won’t be in class today—I got arrested.”
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Professors’ icebreaker stories are definitely one of my favorite things about Fall semester, right up there with all the free stuff from Week of Welcome events. This particular professor cited a former student’s determination to call in his absence as “true due diligence.” Absence policies and I have a long, contentious history, but going into my senior year it’s safe to say they’re not going anywhere. You also quickly learn how much professors appreciate a simple explanation for absences—if Calls Professor From Jail Guy can do it, you can reach under your pillow and shoot off a quick email to your TA. Let’s just hope that wasn’t their one phone call.
2. “Plus, you can pool your money for wings and stuff.”
My professor presented a very convincing case on forming study groups. If you’ve never had a bad experience working with a group, then you’ve never worked in a group before. Despite their undeniable drawbacks—you know you have screenshots from when those group study texts were more Kardashian than Kant #receipts—study groups are a lifesaver at best and a necessary evil at worst. While you’re waiting for your professor to show up, put your phone down and make the effort to talk to the person whose elbow is going to be squished into yours for the next hour and fifteen minutes. It might just save you when you discover you’re missing an entire lecture’s notes while putting together your review for the final.
3. “This is a very informal class, if you haven’t noticed—I teach a literature class and that’s formal as fuck.”
We’ve all had them, the cool TAs. Glossing over the fact that our tuition only buys us a fraction of our professor’s time, TAs are the foundation upon which the college two-hundred seat courses are built. If you’ve ever felt bad for your overworked yet still somehow enthusiastic TA—and you should—probably the biggest thing they appreciate is participation. Coming to class ready to contribute to discussions is only going to make that last hour between you and Thursday drink specials go by faster.
