Peasant

Once upon a time I had a department chairman. He had Mennonite in his background and looked like a Mennonite farmer to me.

This man had the temerity to tell me, after calling me into his office to dress me down for not kowtowing to student demands for less work, that I was “middle-class” now and had to remember the student is a consumer, paying for the “academic” experience with funds from the bank of MommyDaddy.

I gave my students a choice: continue the course according to the syllabus or read one book. I didn’t specify the book up front and no one asked me to. They opted for the book. I assigned Delaney’s The Mad Man.

Hope they got what the paid for.