Professor Hides $50 Prize in Syllabus, But No Student Finds It

Assuming that this photo is real, Dr. Kenyon Wilson, professor of music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, would like for his students to carefully read his course syllabus. He left a fifty dollar bill inside a locker and included the combination in the document. No student took the money.

I will withhold judgment on Wilson's students' attentiveness until I see the syllabus itself. In the past few years, I've sat in on discussions by rhetoric professors about the literary genre of the syllabus and the ways in which they can be written to discourage students from actually reading them. Maybe his is as short at W.H. Auden's famous one-page syllabus from 1941. Maybe it's a twenty-page document written by lawyers that reads like (and essentially is) a terms of service agreement. Maybe Wilson would be out of money if he had left a Franklin instead of a Grant in the locker.

-via Josh Hadro


Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

  I had the best High School Biology instructor, Ms. Dega Patterson of Moriarty, NM. It was the beginning of a new year and she wanted to see where we were at academically, so she gave us a test. She instructed us to read the directions thoroughly.   I began reading the usually long, detailed instructions. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Until it said, "Go to the last question". So, I did.   Question #30: As you have read the instructions, you do not need to complete the test. However, turn the test over & look busy for the remaining time.  I looked around the room & saw classmates hovered over their tests, writing with fervor. I think 2 others followed the instructions because they looked like they were passing notes to each other.  After about ½ hour, Ms. Patterson called it. She had a student read the directions aloud and had all of us flip to question #30. There was a pause and then a collective groan.   Thanks to my Biology instructor, I read what I sign. Yes, it may take a little longer. However, it may save time, effort, money, privacy, or even one's identity in the future.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
At college in the early '80s, I don't recall ever looking at a syllabus. It was all about daily assignments, longer-term projects, and participation. The only exception being a professor who pretty much phoned in the whole course -- He spent the classroom sessions ranting about the crimes of the Reagan administration, until the Final, which he decreed would be our "critique of the books on the syllabus". After a pretty hectic marathon to produce a paper, I was relieved to find that he half-assed the grading of that as much as he had the rest of the semester.
Things may have been a lot more rigorous in the '40s, but I'm skeptical that reading nine opera libretti, on top of some of the most legendary "doorstop" books in literature, would have been particularly vital to grasping Auden's course. That's the sort of thing that created the market for Cliff Notes.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
In my time studying at 3 different colleges (it's complicated), I probably never completely read any of the syllabuses. Life is just too short, especially when I was a non-traditional student working a fulltime job while going back to finish school. I'd look at the attendence & work-submission policies, and breeze through the rest. I was on honor roll for the last college attempt, so I obviously got most of the gist. But I wouldn't expect anyone to completely read a syllabus, or if so, the professor has GOT to bulletpoint the contents. Oh, and I just recently was diagnosed with ADHD, so there was no chance.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Login to comment.
Email This Post to a Friend
"Professor Hides $50 Prize in Syllabus, But No Student Finds It"

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More