I think we can all agree that, on average, section carries exactly zero worth. I will, as usual, explain with an example. I’m currently enrolled in a class called “A History of the Palestine-Israel Question”. I’m sure you are thinking “wow, nice choice. There could not be a better time in history to have a scholarly and unbiased understanding of that issue”, and you’d be right to say that. Unfortunately for all involved, the class is practically worthless. We just had our midterm (I’m on spring break right not, hence the postings) and in studying for it, I realized that we had basically been attending a high school version of the history of Zionism. As interesting as the various distinctions between Labor and Revisionist Zionism may be to some, I couldn’t believe this was a Yale class. But it is.
Now to be fair, we do learn some stuff. The real reason I hate this class so passionately probably stems from the absolute worthlessness of our section and its leader. I really shouldn’t be writing this mid-semester, but I have to. Here is an average week for me:
Oh crap, I have a reading response due for section tomorrow. I have 380 pages to read in one day. I’ll just pick one reading that seems controversial, read a few pages, and the respond to those. Then, in section, I’ll talk about a few different and equally randomly chosen pages, so it looks like I’m participating. Then I’ll be quiet for the rest of the hour (or more, depending on whether she keeps us as late as usual) and hope I don’t get caught laughing as my neighbor plays Mario on his Mac. Man, I wish there was better internet in Phelps Hall. I might be able to hit up addictinggames.com. I guess I’ll just organize my pictures or something. Maybe I’ll try to work on some CS homework this week.
Phew, ok that’s over. But why does section suck so bad? Well, I noticed something interesting in the class. While discussing the actions of Jews pre-1948 (Israel’s independence), one girl who I know to be Jewish commented that “they had not calculated the foreseeable such and such reaction”. Her comment, while on the point, struck me as being highly impersonal. I can’t remember the last time I witnessed a real live conversation, much less an argument, in my section. We occasionally get around to summarizing the readings. I couldn’t really tell you, since I usualy get into that aforementioned Mario game. I do know that two consecutive comments by students are so rare as to be slightly off-putting. That is, the TA says something, a student (usually after a long awkward pause) responds, and then the TA and only the TA responds. Hardly a discussion section in my book.
I can’t attribute section sucking to one factor, but if I could, it would have to be that very removal of opinion, or the extreme desire to be politically correct. Yes, the Jews were wrong in many cases from 1880 until now. Yes, the Palestinians were probably just as wrong. But no one is willing to say that.
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