Back To School

Went and ate lunch with my Dad today.  As my Dad was paying cash for his meal, he gave the young lady enough so that instead of getting a bunch of $1 bills, he'd get a $10 - and jokingly asked her if she could figure out the change without the aid of the computer.  With a good sense of humor, she smiled and said she was in college for a teaching degree for 4th-8th Grade Math/Science. 

Later, after we'd finished eating our lunch, she stopped by to check on us.  We were enjoying our conversation with her when I asked what she thought her most difficult subject currently was.  She said it was writing, not because it was difficult for her to write, but because her college professor was a bit on the "odd side". 

That took me back to the one semester I spent at the University of North Texas and had the craziest World Government professor I'd ever experienced.  Remember the Rodney Dangerfield movie "Back to School" where the plot centers around Rodney returning to college with his son to complete his degree and he has Sam Kinison as one of his professors. 

Probably one of the most memorable parts of that movie is where Sam is yelling at Rodney "SAAAAYYY ITTTTT!!!!".  That was my professor at UNT.  Our World Government class consisted of learning about Vietnam, and only Vietnam.  He was a veteran of the war and he told us with great theatrical presentation how "bombs were going off all around us!  KA-BOOM!!!!  And then the choppers and bombers would come in just above your head shooting their guns BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!, and you'd be running trying to avoid getting hit but then 10 feet over someone would hit a boobie trap and KA-BOOOOM!  PEOPLE, DIRT, SHRUBS AND ALL SORTS OF CRUD WOULD BE FLYING EVERYWHERE!".  The longer he'd talk, the more you could tell he was going into a full flashback.   And heaven forbid if he asked you a question and your answer wasn't immediate! 

He traumatized a lot of young college students as he'd start softly and build in crescendo until he was screaming at the top of his lungs "Say the answer.  You know the answer........ We've COVERED the answer...... Say the ANSWER!  YOU CAN SAY IT!  JUST SAAAAYYYYY ITTTTT!!!!".  If you got the answer right, he immediately calmed down and was back to a normal person.  If you didn't, he'd start throwing stuff around and pick someone else to answer the question. 

Not sure I learned much in that class but as long as I wasn't in the hot seat, it was very entertaining.  To this very day, when I watch the movie "Back to School",  I laugh until I cry at that part...........probably due to my own PTSD flashback.........

by: Christie Bielss