There’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard this from a professor in class a million different times. There’s also a pretty good chance you’ve seen the class go completely quiet afterward.
Once this happens, you really learn what kind of teacher you’re dealing with. There are some, usually the older ones, who will pause for only a moment before moving on in their lectures, but many more will wait for something, anything, from the eager young pupils in front of them. This moment of silence can sometimes stretch to what seems like eons as everyone looks intently at the notes and as the lecturer’s gaze passes from one side of the room to the other. Finally the tension will break because, more often than not, the teacher will simply give up and move on.
It’s never a fun experience, but these encounters have become a routine part of college classes for me and many other students. That is, until last week when the second semester of my junior year began. I went to class, we were assigned things to read, the next day each professor asked that dreaded question.
“So what did everyone think of the reading last night?”
Only to my surprise, three different hands went up. In response to another question, up went five. What was going on? Did everyone get smarter over the winter break? Was I in the right building?
I talked to some of my friend’s about the situation and they all reported having similar experiences.
Eventually we all came to the same conclusion. My fellow students had finally gotten serious about their education. It was probably something I should do as well. By this stage in my college career, I’m taking mostly upper-level classes and it would appear everyone who wasn’t serious about these classes has moved on to other things. I can’t tell you how much more satisfying it makes going to class, no longer having to endure minutes of silence at a time.
Is this just a natural progression of the college student? Does everyone have to endure three years of unproductive class discussions before we’re allowed to partake in worthwhile debates? For the sake of future freshmen, I certainly hope not. I know I’ve too often been one of the students in the back of the room, quietly waiting for the professor to move on with his lecture, but I suppose I forgot how satisfying class time can be when you have interesting things to hear from your fellow students.
Maybe this initial enthusiasm I’ve seen in class is just a result of the recent time off, and, in a few weeks, we’ll be right back to our silent selves, but I’m hoping not. Call it a New Year’s resolution for everyone. Call it whatever you want, but please speak up.
– Carleton Atwater is a junior English major and a member of The News staff.
