Rodney Would Approve

I'm always tempted to say something like, "You kids just don't know how easy you have it! We had to use typewriters and walk to the actual library to look up research: none of this fancy schmancy internet/online library crap!" Occasionally, I do find myself heading down that web-covered (not the www. one however...more like spider type)path with students, but then they always say something that totally throws me off my game like, "You didn't have the internet?" or "There WAS college when you were our age?" So, I usually just let my anachronistic ideas go. There are those rare occasions, I must admit, where I am completely flabbergasted by today's college students. Three recent examples come to mind:
In working with a student who struggles mightily due to some reading issues, I spent at least 30 hours this week preparing said student for a test (minus the half hour in which a mysterious delivery of hotwings was delivered...student claimed to know nothing about it. Ordering hotwings at 11 p.m.? Who does such things?). I made up practice questions, wrote out and used over and over more than a hundred study cards bearing definitions, and using my newly found technological savvy, recorded the midterm practice handout (in my very own dulcet tones!)so the student could listen to it over and over and over...all of this led to complete exhaustion on a breakdown level (on my part), and a grade of "C" on the test. While others were fist bumping all over, I was casual, knowing that this was merely the beginning, aware that yet another tet was looming next week. So, I congratulated the student and asked, "You know what this means, don't you?" A logical person (ergo, NOT a college student) would have said, "Yes, that hard work and constant repetition helps." What I GOT was, "I can go home early tonight?" sigh
Yet another student set up an appointment with me for 2 p.m. today via email(remarkable...a student who does not text message!). I really had a nap planned, but I agreed to wait. About 2:45, another email: "I fell asleep. I'll be there in 10 minutes." I did not reply but dozed quietly in my chair (hey, it's been a long week), awaking with a start a half hour later. BY this time, the student was involved in athletic practice so I went home, more than a little peeved (and sleepy).
In addition, I have two young ladies who sit with me every week to discuss readings from their Western Culture class because they usually have a quiz on Friday. We have to negotiate a time to meet because of other commitments to students that I have. Tonight, however, was the (nearly) breaking point. I was exhausted and my contacts were drying out, but Pliny the Younger's letters and Eusebius's writing about the life of Constantine were truly captivating. We were just getting into the writing style and how Pliny's letters differed in perspective when Lory said to me, " You know, Gray's Anatomy is on in fifteen minutes. We really have to get going." RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A SCINTILLATING DISCUSSION OF ANCIENT ROMAN WRITING STYLES! Can you believe it? Me, neither! Back in MY day, we'd have walked five miles uphill just to hear someone discuss the writings of the ancient Romans! To learn about Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome would have been a bonus too hard to imagine! Gray's Anatomy, indeed. It's no Marcus Welby or Dr. Kildare, M.D. I can assure you!
It's not easy being an anachronism...maybe that'll be my Halloween costume tomorrow night. (though there is always the presidential candidate masks left over from the Trib)
But Friday? Back to school.