Teachable Moments

— Matthew Henry Hall

Matthew Henry Hall is a cartoonist and writer, living in Flagstaff, Ariz. Matthew would be gosh darned tickled if you visited his Web site: www.matthewhenryhall.com.

Comments

Huh?

OK. I have no sense of humor. I don’t get it.

ginna, at 9:40 am EDT on May 25, 2007

It’s a satire on hegemony in the academy. The white male administrative oppressor employs linguistic periphrasis to assail the productivity of a person of color.

Duke, Herman Oytix, at 11:05 am EDT on May 25, 2007

Well, perhaps, Duke. I’d deconstruct it somewhat differently. The idiot administrator is referencing Mephistopheles’ pedagogies and the likely negative responses they have among students in Satan’s courses.

The irony lies, partly, in the fact that Satan’s teaching strategies are mostly very attractive ones and highly appealing (e. g., Milton, Paradise Lost or Satan’s tri-fold temptations of Jesus in the desert). He’s really a very appealing guy ("angel of light") and one observes that his classes are always full and exceedingly popular, starting with Adam and Eve.

JAM, at 11:55 am EDT on May 25, 2007

C’mon, you academics. Stop playing coy, cute and obfiscacious.

Steve, at 10:15 am EDT on May 26, 2007

What Can I Say ... I Like His Drawings

As always, the comments are funnier than the cartoon. I often wonder why Matthew Henry Hall doesn’t just draw the picture and invite readers to supply the caption, a la The New Yorker.

By the way Duke, you forgot “old,” a very important omission. He’s an “OLD white male administrative oppressor.”

RWH, at 10:15 am EDT on May 26, 2007

Omigod ... I Feel A Quartet of Limericks Coming On ...

I hear you give tests out-of-class,

You’ve created quite a morass

The Asians are wise

But they all plagiarize

It’s culture ... so give them a pass.

No, you’re definitely wrong about that ...

Here in Kansas we’ve worked out that spat.

You must give Him His due

I.D.’s definitely true ...

An’ don’t leave out a single “begat.”

For adjuncts, each course pays three grand ..

It’s a case of supply and demand.

No bennies of course

And you’ll work like a horse,

And if you object you’ll be canned.

Promotion!? ... and tenure!? ... Oh noooo.

You’ve burned too many bridges my bro.

If you can’t take the heat

You’ll never compete

With colleagues like Noam and D. Ho.

[Disclaimer: The author of this post may have accessed Wikipedia within the past 24 hours]

Frizbane Manley, at 10:15 am EDT on May 26, 2007