Was it the J.Crew that made my blood boil with class resentment?

That is a question I asked myself as I sat in the back of a colleague’s class. After all, I cannot afford J.Crew (unless it’s a thrift store find) and here she was, a young woman, shopping away at their online store. Or was it something deeper, something more important, that made me want to stand up and yell at her and all her classmates with their laptops open to Facebook and CNN and even a silent hockey game? Something about paying attention and basic human interaction and learning?

As I sat in my colleague’s classroom, I was struck by three things. One, he was giving a brilliant lecture. Really beautifully prepared, interesting stories, using images, props, writing on the board, and inviting student participation. Two, about one-third of his students couldn’t be bothered to notice.  And three, it makes me really…

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