Well, I think the confusion was brought on at least in part by another girl's mistake (which I also found amusing and did not correct--I am going to be such a terrible teacher someday :P ), so the professor's not alone.
The daguerreotype story isn't actually all that fascinating, but I can sum it up for you: it was a chilly day in Madison and we were all sitting in the History of American Education lecture when the professor decided to demonstrate connectionism to the class. Apparently, this "connectionism" business was a theory of education wherein good behavior (i.e. giving the right answer) was rewarded while bad behavior (giving the incorrect answer) was punished. This theory was tested in a variety of unfair ways, such as grouping students based on their spelling ability.
"Spell 'daguerreotype,'" the professor said to a student who had volunteered to participate in the demonstration.
"Ask for the definition," said a boy sitting behind me.
"Language of origin," I suggested.
A girl three seats over said, "Make him use it in a sentence."
The student rolled his eyes at us and spelled, "D-A-G-E-R-R-O-T-Y-P-E." (I think. I'm not positive that's how he spelled it, but it was something that made sense phonetically but was incorrect.)
"Oh my goodness," said the professor, "how could you be so stupid? Seriously, even the kids a year younger than you can spell that." He turned to another boy and pointed at him. "Spell 'cat,'" he said.
"C-A-T," said the kid.
"Excellent work," the professor said. "You're clearly a very smart child. You get to sit all the way at the head of the class and," here he threw a piece of candy up into the lecture audience, "you get a mint."
We all laughed, and the lesson continued. When the bell rang, I stood and packed my things, and then, because I couldn't resist any longer, said, "D-A-G-U-E-R-R-E-O-T-Y-P-E," and fled.
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Date: 2006-11-28 07:40 am (UTC)The daguerreotype story isn't actually all that fascinating, but I can sum it up for you: it was a chilly day in Madison and we were all sitting in the History of American Education lecture when the professor decided to demonstrate connectionism to the class. Apparently, this "connectionism" business was a theory of education wherein good behavior (i.e. giving the right answer) was rewarded while bad behavior (giving the incorrect answer) was punished. This theory was tested in a variety of unfair ways, such as grouping students based on their spelling ability.
"Spell 'daguerreotype,'" the professor said to a student who had volunteered to participate in the demonstration.
"Ask for the definition," said a boy sitting behind me.
"Language of origin," I suggested.
A girl three seats over said, "Make him use it in a sentence."
The student rolled his eyes at us and spelled, "D-A-G-E-R-R-O-T-Y-P-E." (I think. I'm not positive that's how he spelled it, but it was something that made sense phonetically but was incorrect.)
"Oh my goodness," said the professor, "how could you be so stupid? Seriously, even the kids a year younger than you can spell that." He turned to another boy and pointed at him. "Spell 'cat,'" he said.
"C-A-T," said the kid.
"Excellent work," the professor said. "You're clearly a very smart child. You get to sit all the way at the head of the class and," here he threw a piece of candy up into the lecture audience, "you get a mint."
We all laughed, and the lesson continued. When the bell rang, I stood and packed my things, and then, because I couldn't resist any longer, said, "D-A-G-U-E-R-R-E-O-T-Y-P-E," and fled.