MY MOST FAVORITE CLASS AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Kannon, Baron Von
cLA%s/(ritia»A>i^ by Baron Von Kannon filtered cigarettes strewn about. One incessant theme in Our Generation's simian chorus is "make education relevant." Last summer I was subjected to a...
...For a Christian, the Resui'rection is irrelevant...
...one year Interest and bill me...
...cLA%s/(ritia»A>i^ by Baron Von Kannon filtered cigarettes strewn about...
...Rather the question is one that would make good Doctor Professor Meagher proud of me, for I wonder "how has Arriving at the "picnic grounds", actually a dilapidated pre-fabricated shack on Lake Monroe, we set about gathering firewood and clearing the area in preparation for an evening of "rapping...
...Perhaps if he tried to learn about his religion or even someone else's religion he would overcome a few frustrations and not attempt to infect his students...
...W h y was the instructor, by his own admission, such a mess...
...parties that Bad been held during the past semester...
...even if knowledge of the ancients wasn't "relevant" it was at least interesting and perhaps useful for the study of m o d e m philosophers...
...This "do-yourownthing" philosophy seems to be an excellent one for a playboy trying to rationalize his sex life, or a drug b u m who has lost all interest in a life lived in accordance with the laws of gravity, but for a serious student (as all in this class, especially the instructor pretended to be) it seemed a bit odd...
...It did seem rather strange for a religion instructor to be teaching us that: "For a Christian, Christ's divinity is unimportant...
...W e all relived the drama of his difficulty in reporting this crime, the suspense of each encounter with company officials and the agony of his final capitulation to the system, i.e...
...n 14 LETTERS to the Editor AITKRiXATIFE 27 F»bnjK7, 1969 ,.,^ IfcdrHi, ^alD Dbht G«n*rallDBlju>i In thll world mC tgf adDlaiemt dlaoDTd ws jpuung ptopla of ths £taturdi7 Branlng dub look to • ll^t tbkt sUnaa In tbs dutauH, to • tin that tunig brlfbtlr, tba fir* at fnadiB Bid dlgnll;, bora of ttw pbloglstlo tUrtlaa, nw firs 1b RancD...
...On another day, Doctor Professor Meagher informed us that his entire life (all 26 years) had been a string of frustrating episodes...
...I should have read some books on abnormal child psychology...
...N o w does not someone in the PoliticalEducational-Complex owe m e some money...
...Another decided to move out of Bloomington to the country, "where I can build a fire every evening...
...And me, how has m y life been improved by this full submersion into relevance...
...So of course it kills them...
...That's relevant...
...Deliciously, he pointed out the discarded butts of non(continued on page 14) 9 V O N K A N N O N (continued from page 9) m y life been improved by the experience of this 'relevant course...
...Tot OirlBtiB Tyrrall Ladrld...
...Then a litany of John Kennedy, ˆight-week summer session I read much on m y own and was grateful to receive an "A" on the exam...
...M y guess is that he did not know much about his subject and felt guilty about having to teach it...
...Only Doctor Professor Meagher was killing me...
...Our host, a classmate, assumed the role of leader, showing us around the area and describing the wild (wow...
...about, what it means to be a man," bibliography: Plato, The Apology, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Camus, The Plague, Hesse, Siddhartha, de Chardin, The Divine Milieu, Meagher, Personalities and Powers...
...IS d« Abrll do 1.969 # y;/Sis!^.^ 9-^^.J^M9^.J- Tyrrell The .11 tor native OlBtinsuld a JfivonBH Iturol Hout : e 11 m-OOUINGTON, INDIANA (U.S.A...
...W h y do they accept such rubbish from garbage carriers like Father Meagher...
...The answer to that is obvious — with no final exam I caimot say I learned anything...
...The outing began with a heart-rendering lecture by some friend of the instructor on the immorality of "a society which allows Robert Keimedy to be killed...
...Aod, Ijisplrad ty tout ai^la ua tAndar jaa Tha iltaraatlTa JIvard for Implntlos and ^ilrltulJ Saiumotlsn...
...Does the m a n not know the definition of Christianity...
...In fact, he has probably cut corners all his life and now seeks refuge from the world's realities by giving himself over to smarmy sentimentalism...
...Fir-ado...
...Meagher to teach m e a course on contemporary religious thought and for one reason or another he failed to meet his contractual obligation...
...Each person is different and what is good for one m a y not be good for another...
...That exceptional moment — the McCarthy campaign...
...he kept the money...
...The instructor spent one entire period explaining how the Blue Cross Insurance Company overpaid him for hospital bills incurred at the birth of his son...
...I really can think better while gazing into a fire...
...I understand tiiese subscriptions D two years $9.00 D Address State & rity City State & 7ip Cndi...
...When I <iiscovered later that 9 5 % of the class got "A's" or Robert Kennedy, the Hero of Chappaquiddick, Eugene McCarthy, socialism and revolution that re" B's" m y sense of achievement lost its sweetness...
...The point is that I contracted Mr...
...Oh, I thought, this paladin of relevance reminds m e so of Hemingway's rueful reflection "people bring so much courage to this world, the world has to kill them to break them...
...Plans were made, food purchased, sleeping gear packed and we were off to Lake Monroe for discussions of religion, philosophy and life in general...
...Last summer I was subjected to a "relevant course" which I shall forthwith describe allowing you to judge its value...
...Use this subscription blank to find out...
...The course: R-241, Contemporary Religious Thought, the instructor, Robert Meagher, B. A. Philosophy, Notre Dame, M . A. University of Chicago, purpose of course (according to the bulletin): "to discover what life is all After finding a clearing in which to sit (the house was too disgusting even for this group), we began our discussion...
...Doctor Professor Meagher's ideas on morality also struck m e as being strange: "there is no absolute moral standard...
...UlUi IrawffBlUa napcot stid utelratloa...
...N o w it is alleged that the real problem of the educational system is that students just don't get the opportunity to express themselves...
...Su l^celencli> el Jofe dol H^iitadD y tianorallBl», qua ha rccibldo HU atotita carta Uol posailo bdb de Fobrcro, nc encargo que, unldo B su aloctuds Gen cat o sulud s notlvo o par , i|UOd a todOB a d,c le Vda a oKradoc . afoctlslBO e •!, ofraclalento quu lo hacon del Pro-lo "The Alternative- por Insplraclfin y Ke.urgl- 4J2.ULU U'^ Bicnto EsplrltUBl...
...But this utility was never realized, for our discussion of contemporary religion never developed in the next four weeks...
...So to solve this crisis we as a class, in a democratic show of hands decided that those of us not taking the final would participate in an "outing" instead...
...THE PUBLIC INTEREST 404 Park Avenue South New York, N.Y...
...During the first four weeks of the posed to half-baked homilies attacking America's racial relations, America's "strife", America's President, America's war, America's poverty, and the claustrophobically repressive society in which this discussion was taking place...
...I really can...
...In between I was exOn the first day of class Doctor Professor Meagher lectured on GreeE thought...
...Irving Kristol and Daniel Bell believe their thoughtful journal can demythologize social problems...
...Perhaps Socialism has its dreary side...
...I learned to resist bursting into hysterical laughter upon encountering idiots making fools of themselves...
...F llpe Polo Uart'CnoE-VBldJB...
...About a week after the midterm Doctor Professor Meagher announced that the final would be optional, adding indecorously, "Now that the bullshit of grades is out of the way he can all get down to learning...
...One incessant theme in Our Generation's simian chorus is "make education relevant...
...It ended, for me, twenty-four hours later when the instructor's wife squatted in front of m e during lunch to breast-feed her baby...
...Yet, I found the first four weeks of the class profitable, and felt that minded m e of an anonymous author's tribute to womanhood which I recently read on the men's room walls of the Kocolene gas station...
...The midterm examination covered a period ending with the fourth century...
...10016 Please open the following subscriptions to The Public will begin with Issue Numbe $5.00 r 12...
...And the fourth, Greek . . . and so forth until on the twenty-fifth day we turned to St...
...If I were to continue this way I might reveal how little I learned from Doctor Professor Meagher's course and though this might illuminate our intelligent audience as to the courses inadequacies it would be at m y expense...
...O n the third, more Greek...
...The lingering question remaining with m e now is not what I learned about contemporary religious thought...
...But let m e not get into a theological discussion...
...Augustine...
...Doctor Professor Meagher had told us the topic would be "man's relation to society," so I naively spent several hours reading Thoreau, the early philosophers and notes from past government courses...
...W e were not even tested on it...
...When the council finally ended I had the feeling our required text should have been a collection of letters to A n n Landers...
...His course induced one classmate, a promising pre-med student, to drop out to study philosophy and sociology, claiming his "entire life has been a hypocrisy...
...Yet why are students so gullible...
...Our remaining time in class was equally disappointing...
Vol. 3 • November 1969 • No. 3
