« so what
a simons shaped box
people don’t really take jazz seriously. i gave a little presentation today on kind of blue and people couldn’t believe that someone would be excited about jazz without snickering. unfortunately, i got nervous and start defending the idea that “so what” didn’t have a set melody. i sat down and then decided what i was saying was wrong. however, since then i’ve gone back to my original opinion. of course, this is the class where other people are spending a whole semester analyzing eternal sunshine, the biblical book of jonah, and garden state.
that’s the second time i made a fool out of myself today. the first was in editing class when simons said that one of his “tests” for students was to see if they wanted to take a chua class. he would tell the student that she was the best teacher on campus but also the hardest. apparently he read my face and saw that i wasn’t fond of chua and called me on it. listen here 
i didn’t care for chua when i took her class, however i was only a freshman. maybe i would learn a lot from her now. i wish i knew then what i know now: i’d get a lot more out of my education. i cant believe i’m about to have my degree. i know i’ve said it before, but i feel as though i’ve only now come to a place where i can learn. i wish i had been taking simons’ classes all four years.
it’s interesting that he brought up that he used chua as a dividing line for his students. i totally understand using it as a test to determine the student’s desire for learning. i especially thought it was interesting that he talked about it today because yesterday i was talking to ash about the same thing. i told her that i categorized people who were unwilling to take a simons class. “there are two types of people: those who like simons, and those who don’t.”
we were on the subject because this blonde volleyball player, who we’ll call tracy, went crazy on me after i said that i was taking simons and i loved it. “i hate people like you!” she said. Then she mocked, “ooh dr. simons, he’s so smart. ooh simons simons simons. everything he says is gospel. gosh! you people! do you know what he said to me? i didnt show up for his class and he called me! he called me! i wouldn’t even talk to him. and! do you know what he does.” tracy’s voice became hushed, “he even gets in trouble with the school. lets just say that. that man is an imbecile!”
wow someone who doesn’t always agree with the administration, imagine that. better watch out for that philistine.
Bekah said
February 24th, 2005 @ 11:04 am
Isn’t it ironic that the same attitude Simons speaks so vehemently against is found in those who refuse to take his class. I wonder if your blonde volleyball friend has ever taken a college class that wasn’t required simply because she wanted to learn something she yet know, or ever turned the radio station so she could listen to a song she hadn’t yet heard, or picked up a book in a bookstore and sat for hours reading it because it looked interesting and she wanted to know how it would end.
I stand in front of my students every day looking at blank expressions, the slouched shoulders and crossed arms blocking my appeals to break through the apathy. I wonder if one of my students will be the next blonde volleyball player who will miss the whole point of school, refusing to take a Simons’ class because he is too hard, too unreasonable to expect better of her than she wants to be.
And I only have one year to get past the barriers.