It's game time! My first-year, wide-eyed, innocent students were tasked with designing a simple adventure game as a collection of rooms. They were to draw the layout of the game plan for me. Most came up with cute ideas. And then there was Larry and Moe.Larry and Moe came up with a design that included two round rooms, one on each side of a square
room. On top of the square room were three other squares, and on top of the last square was a half-circle, with the arc on top.
Go ahead and draw it, I'll wait.
Right. NSFW. My immediate reaction.
So I asked them "What is the point of this?" Larry: "Well, the goal is to start here in one of the round rooms and make your way out through the top half-circle." Me: "Ahem. That's juvenile." Larry: "What?" Moe: "But it fits the specification, don't you see?" Me (getting louder so the rest of the class will hear: "I find this design disgusting and juvenile." Larry: "But why?" Me (as loud as I can): "Because a p*n*s design is something that only an immature juvenile would think was cool. Please make another design."
At least they got a little bit red because everyone had now turned around to see what we were talking about. But honestly, what did they expect me to do? Run from the room crying? Or was it an honest accident and they did not realize what they were drawing?
--Suzy from Square State
They should be called Larry and Curly. Then you can be Moe. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
ReplyDeleteIn real life, Larry and Curly got injured fairly often while filming. Funnily enough, it rarely happened to Moe. Wise guy...Ngaaaaaaaawoobwoobwoobwoobwoob...
On the other hand, never attribute to malice what can be explained equally well to stupidity, and this appears to be a prime case of it. As no less than Jean-Paul Sartre observed, "Even when I'm not thinking about sex, I'm thinking about sex."
You could suggest they think with the big head instead of the little head, but they probably wouldn't get it.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago my auto-tech students were drawing penises on the outlet that dangles from the ceiling in physics lab. I said "Mystery solved; I've always wondered who were the college students doodling penises like frigging 12 year olds." They also turned red and behaved. I think they do think we'll run and cry. Frod probably doesn't have QUITE the same perspective on male students and the day dream of making a she-bitch professor run away crying.
ReplyDeleteWombat has it right. Saying it's offensive just tells them that they're effective at trolling you. Calling them out as juvenile is accurate, proportionate, and actually a real learning experience for them: they're there to learn, in part, how to be professional.
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