Week 9 of Spring Quarter.

I sit down with a salad in the crowded food court.  I leave the strap of my shoulder-bag around my neck.  A fidgety kid sits down next to me, looks around, and fidgets.  Ten seconds later, he decides he's had enough of that seat.  He stands up, grabs my bag and starts to walk away.

"Excuse me," I say.

"WHAT?"

The room goes dead silent.  I point to strap around my neck and say, "I think that's my bag you have there."

"FINE."

Then he drops my bag and walks away.  He was loud, but it was an empty roar.  No malice to it.  Nor do I think he was trying to steal my bag.  If pressed, I'd say the kid probably had no clue where or even who he was.  He was toast.

All of which is only to say, people who have never worked in the quarter system have absolutely no idea what those last few weeks of Spring Quarter are like, because there's nothing comparable to them in the semester system . . . and I think that's probably a good thing.

Comments

[nk]

There you have it. You sat down with a salad. Vegetables are for a temperate, friendly, lazy environment. For an arctic, desert, or campus environment, you need high concentrations of fat and protein. May I recommend a Reuben and two Miller Lites?

[Ahistoricality]

There's summer term. I've taught 6-week classes -- 75 minutes a day, five days a week for a 3-credit course -- and I kind of like it because students are more focused. I've taught two sections of the same course, back to back, even.

Then there's the 4-week mini-term -- two hours a day for nineteen days, often starting before Spring semester final grades were due -- in which I taught both halves of the World History survey.....

And, before you dismiss the semester system out of hand, remember that some of us teach 4-4 loads, and spring semester is sixteen weeks with no breaks except one week in the middle.

Believe me, I understand toasted.

[era]

Sort of like the quarterly economy some of us have been working in for, what, a few decades?

[Adam Roberts]

This story puts me in mind, for some reason, of this review of the Wavves' new album in today's Guardian. I quote: "When asked recently about his love of surf guitar, 22-year-old Wavves man Nathan Williams gave a wonderfully coherent answer: "Musically ... the Beach Boys ... I'm sorry, I don't understand the question, I'm really high right now."

[Rich Puchalsky]

Funny. I've been wandering around in a haze of too much work lately too. I don't think I've even flamed anybody in the last couple of weeks.

[SEK]

Ahistoricality and era,

I was talking about the students, not the teachers. I'm fine teaching in the quarter system, but to be an 18 yr. old kid under this sort of pressure? Brutal.

Adam,

Were that I were too! Would making the marking easier, though it would monkey with the grades.

Rich,

I was just thinking the other day, "I wonder where Rich got off to?" Glad to hear it's just work and not something that might happen to me.

[era]

I realize that you are not in the precariat caste but rather sort of like a bank manager (good for you), only without the golden handshake and option program (not so good, I guess). Really heart-warming of you to see things from our perspective. Let us know when you're ready to pay back the taxpayers' money. Oops, wrong channel. (Just now my eyes landed on the text "I wonder where [the] rich got off to" in the previous comment.)