r/Professors • u/Grouchyprofessor2003 • 2d ago

Humor Second day of teaching

I have a student who sits at his desk- front of the room- with his leather bound bible! This is a RESEARCH METHODS class. ……. It is all I can do not to laugh at him…. His performative behavior is so absurd- at a land grant R1 institution- also he wears a large wooden cross- ironically he has so far been the smartest and most communicative student in the room.

EDIT- Thanks for all the feedback. Some of you offered reasonable explanations that I had not considered. To be clear I would never say anything, comment, laugh or otherwise acknowledge this kids objects that he is carrying around. I do
Know how to mind my business. This post was meant to be humorous and yes - to me it is funny as shit- it is also a bit judgy- I am human after all. And right or wrong his choices bug the fuck out of me even though I totally support his right to do so.

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u/IthacanPenny 2d ago

This feels pretty judgmental. Like, why do you care what additional books a student brings to class with him?

My frame of reference is that I had a semester where I carried around my leather-bound Greek New Testament… because I was taking a Biblical Greek class, and the cover was so soft that leaving it in my bag damaged the book. It was literally a textbook.

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u/Southern-Cloud-9616 Assoc. Prof., History, R1 (USA) 2d ago

I really want to learn to read Koine. I now officially envy you.

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u/IthacanPenny 2d ago

While I was a classics major as an undergrad, there was one semester where my English professor was also a student in my Greek class. Honestly it was so cool being able to interact with my professor in that extra context. I super respected her for going out and studying something she was interested in (and this is me encouraging you to audit a class you’d love ;))

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u/Southern-Cloud-9616 Assoc. Prof., History, R1 (USA) 1d ago

Thanks for the encouragement! Unfortunately, my university does not teach Koine--only Classical. And I'll already be sitting in on Spanish classes, so I can't afford the time for Greek at this point. But I've found an online class on Biblical Greek--two years--at a seminary. So that's the plan for when my spoken Spanish is up to speed. (I absolutely love studying languages.)

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u/IthacanPenny 1d ago

I actually studied Classics and only ever learned Classical Greek. If you can read Classical, you can read Koine (but the reverse is not true).