Some things just have to be said

[robinturner]

At long last lessons have started, and yesterday I registered students for my Matrix course. After escorting them to their new and rather bleak classroom, I was going to say, "Hello and welcome to ENG 101" but instead I couldn't stop myself saying ...

"Welcome to the desert of the real."

Comments

When I was a boy....

[ankh156.livejournal.com]

...way back in the mists of time etc.

It was a course called 'epistemology', wherein we read Kant and Gibert Ryle, and it wasn't in the least bit sexy.

The fact that I was there because of certain doubts I began entertaining whilst on LSD seemed totally irrelevant (until I really started reading my Kant - but that's another story).

I actually find the first Matrix bullshit... but if that's what it takes to make people realise that nothing is certain, well so be it...

Hope you're well.

[kiad.livejournal.com]

Are you actually teaching a course on the philosophy of the Matrix? Say it isn't so!

[solri.livejournal.com]

Well it is and it ain't. The course I'm teaching is ENG 101, currently called "English and Compostition" - they change the name every year, but it's basically an English and academic skills course involving everything from critical thinking to the minutiae of citation formats (I'm in a Chicago kind of mood this year, BTW). The good side is that for the last few years our department has gone for CBI (content-based learning) in a big way, which gives us a carte blanche to teach pretty much any course we want, so long as we teach essential academic English skills while we're at it.

So in effect I am teaching a course on the philosophy of The Matrix. The first part of th course looks mainly at religious symbolism; the second looks at epistemology and ethics, and the last part is social criticism with a brief tour through Baudrillard and the Frankfurt School.

[kiad.livejournal.com]

Mmm... Are you willing to flash your syllabus? Sounds wonderful!

I acutally just learned how to say Baudrillard yesterday while I was discussing his opinion about media in a discussion. Why do Bataille and Baudrillard both have those weird silent double Ls ?!? Maddening!

[kristian.livejournal.com]

Dude you are the most awesome university person I've never had the pleasure of learning under.

[chr0me-kitten.livejournal.com]

:-D

[tristan-moore.livejournal.com]

HAHA!!! ;)

[solri.livejournal.com]

I don't have a detailed syllabus, but there's some basic info on the course website (http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin/101/"). The texts we're using are from a variety of sources, including three from the official Matrix website. I compiled them into a course book, but I can't put it online, as that would probably be violating "fair use" and it's probably too big to mail to you.

[solri.livejournal.com]

[blushes]

Re: When I was a boy....

[solri.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the good wishes. I am as well as can be expected under the (currently rather trying) circumstances.

Hmm, that sounded a bit like Mr. Spock - I'll never forget that line of his: "Let me take you to a place of relative safety."

[earthemp6.livejournal.com]

You reminded me of these. So I will share them with you.
You know your obsessed with the Matrix when:

- If every time you open your front door for someone you say, "Welcome to the desert of the real".

-Every time you answer your cell calls, you ask excitely and very anxiously "Morpheus?"

- When someone asks you why you are eating soup with a fork, you pause and reply mystically, "There is no spoon."

- While making out with your g/b-friend, you suddenly stop and mysteriously say looking into her eyes " I know kung-fu"

- While riding a crowded elevator, you suddenly scream, "Tank, I need an exit – FAST!"

- Eating steak makes you feel really, really evil

- You now put a garden hose in the bathtub with you, so that when you get out, you can pretend you're unplugging from the Matrix

- You are reprimanded for looking TOO casual on a 'Casual Friday', and you respond in complete seriousness, "Ah - so you want me to upgrade my residual self image?"

-You walk up to a bald kid and ask him "How do you bend the spoon again??"

- You search through the supermarkets trying to find tasty wheat to see what it really tastes like.

- If your breakup speech with your girl/boy friend is: (rubbing your finger across his/her head) "I can taste your stink"

- If just before your dentist starts to clean your teeth, you stare excitedly at the overhead apparatus and blurt, "ju jitsu? I'm gonna learn ju jitsu?!"

- You write a seven page paper on what the matrix really is and no one reads it. ::sigh::

- You become a pro hacker in hopes that Morpheus will find you "special" enough to "show you the real world".

[solri.livejournal.com]

The penultimate one is definitely me. Especially since I'm the kind of guy that uses words like "penultimate" ;-)

I was joking with a colleague about the course and said, "I expect when they fill in the course evaluation forms at the end of the semester and get to the question 'What have you learnt on this course?' half of them will write 'I know kung fu!'"

Actually, looking at my students, I get a strong impression that at least in the first section, a bunch of them rushed to sign up for the course without reading the course description; i.e., they saw "The Matrix" but din't see "Baudrillard" or "Frankfurt School".

[cibetky.livejournal.com]

I hope the students have some other options besides this one course to fulfill their Eng and academic skills requirement...

[solri.livejournal.com]

Of course - they get to choose from different themes. This time we also offer:

Dimensions of Intimacy
The Internet: a critical investigation
Film, History and Ideology
A Story of Minority: the African-American experience
Social Construction of Mind and Human Action
Cultural Imperialism or Cultural Transfer?

Rush Limbaugh would have a field day with this lot!

Looks great!

[cibetky.livejournal.com]

It almost makes me regret that I wasn't born in Turkey - the university you teach at seems to be better than all the Czech universities... *sigh*

Not to speak about the weather.

Re: Looks great!

[solri.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't like the attendance requirements, though - 25 hours of lectures, all with compulsory attendance, plus lots of assignments and far too many exams. A far cry from my own student days - I used to go to all my tutorials and most seminars, but I'd only go to lectures if the lecturer was really, really good.

Re: Looks great!

[solri.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, and you wouldn't like the weather in Ankara much either, unless you enjoy being baked in Summer and frozen in Winter. Spring and Autumn are lovely, but short.

Funnily enough, it was pure chance that I ended up in Ankara rather than Prague - I had offers from schools in both places, but the Ankara one came first.

Re: Looks great!

[cibetky.livejournal.com]

Well, I've never had any problems with attendance, I've always felt that if I skipped classes I wouldn't know what to expect on the exam at the end. Some of the lecturers, though, kept us in utter darkness no matter if we skipped or not...

Which school in Prague did you receive the offer from? The Charles University? I've heard that it's still very conservative and behind the times in teaching methods. And that there are no computer labs with Internet access for students in the Faculty of Arts. :-(
But then, it's not my first hand experience.

Other than that, Prague is a magic place, you missed a lot!

Re: Looks great!

[solri.livejournal.com]

It wasn't a university, it was a company providing English tuition for professionals. I probably wouldn't have liked it mch - I was more attracted by the idea of living in Prague!