A teacher I agreed with yesterday, and one I didn't.

“Good teaching is like playing catch. You throw the ball to students, and you wait for them to throw it back. Once they throw it back, you add something more and send it back. If either side holds the ball for too long, the transfer process is not working.”

I agree with this. I have seen teachers who have a lot of good things to say, but they are so concerned with saying all that they have prepared that they hog the ball to themselves. They never check in with their students to see if they are following along, confused, or even interested. The point of education is not for teacher to teach, but for students to learn. That is why good teachers check every few minutes for feedback throughout their lesson, instead of waiting till the end to say “does it all make sense.” A head down on the table or a question that no one wants or attempts to answer is a good sign you are teaching but they are not learning. Unfortunately, that happens a lot in schools.

“When people go hungry, the system of government is to blame.”

This professor, who I think is vaguely socialist, said the problem with Americans is that we blame individuals for the wrongs of society when the system is to blame. Apparently the “western” concept of individual responsibility is outdated in his mind. I'd like to ask him what happened in Socialist China during the “Great Famine” when millions of people died due to a shortage of grain induced directly by the “system.” What about the thousands of people in Russia starved because the “system” fell apart?

Sorry professor, but the “system” never has been the answer to the world's problems. Like a mirror, systems reflect underlying problems, but they do little to solve them. Real improvement starts with individuals and works from the bottom up, not from the top down.

From this same professor: “'Christians [a very loose term I'm sure] compose 33% of the world population. Muslims, 19%. Statistically, Christians [lumped in with America and the “west”] can't afford to make Muslims mad. What happens when they do? Sept. 11.”

My question: Is can we afford to appease them? I agree that we gain nothing by intentionally making Muslim countries mad. Any action solely intended to make a large group of people mad is stupid and should be aborted. However, if the part that makes them mad is the fact that Christians and America exist, what are our options? Cease to exist? Honestly professor, that doesn't strike me as a very good option.