Humor in Education

Chemistry Experiment: When I was Head of the Science and Math Division at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in the 1970’s, a chemistry instructor made me a copy of the following lab report was turned in by one of his students. This student, like so many, had returned from a stint in the army to take advantage of the veteran’s benefits. He was not very well prepared, but he worked very hard. His frustration is evident.

“I started that there experiment on the back 2 times. The first time I already had the refluxed solution done and the next lab period I washed the either in water. I spent the whole lab period washing it in water, and I could tell something was wrong, but I really knowed something was wrong when I washed it in the sodium bicarbonate and it didn’t fizzle. Then later I found them instructions and I came back in this evening to do it again. I refluxed that stuff. Then another evening I come back and had put the stuff in H2O (ice cold) and measured in the either. Shook it real good. Let off pressure. Separated it. Thought maybe I could do a better job of separating, so I poured the 2 liquids back in to the separating funnel . . . I had left the stopper bottom open. Never have attempted experiment again.”

I noticed that the professor had just written OK at the end of the report, and I asked him what was the meaning of the grade “OK?” He said it was what he would call a “placebo” grade; it didn’t mean anything. The young man was already failing the course, and he just felt sorry for the guy. After all that effort and frustration, and “F” grade for the lab was cruel and unusual punishment.

HOW HIGH IS IT?

Another story, which is probably not a true story, was told to me by one of my friends in the Physics Department at Southern Polytechnic State Univeristy in Marietta, GA. He enjoys telling it to students whenever measurement is discussed. It seems that he was leaving class one day when he noticed two students holding a long pole. One was balancing it vertically from the ground and the other was on the very top of the pole holding a steel tape, obviously measuring the pole.

"What are you doing?" The professor asked.
"We are trying to see how tall this pole is," They responded.
"Well," said the Professor. "Why don't you lay the pole down along the ground. It would be much easier to measure that way."

"Isn't that just like a professor," said one of the students to the other. "We know how LONG it is, we're trying to find out how HIGH it is!"