"For words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within" (Tennyson).

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Midnight English Class?

An end note in one of Professor X's chapters took me to this article in the New York Times about a community college in Boston that offers a couple of late night classes due to high demand and overcrowding. I guess "late night" doesn't quite capture the meaning of of what's going on. The article focuses on a literature course that begins at 11:45 p.m. (that's a quarter 'til midnight) and lets out at 2:30 a.m.

I thought at first it was a typo, so I read more carefully. Then I went to the chapter notes to get the publishing information. The writer of the article is named Amy Goodnough. This has to be a joke, I thought. An Onion article, surely.

I went online. Sure 'nough, Amy Goodnough name comes right up as an education reporter for the New York Times. I located the article. It looks legit. But so many questions come to mind: Is there an evening administrator after midnight? (somehow I doubt it). What about security? Is there access to copy machines? What if there's a power outage? What if there's a medical emergency? I've had two students over the course of my teaching career who've had epileptic seizures. Is the health center open at 2 a.m.?

Somehow this doesn't seem right.

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