Generation X goes to college : an eye-opening account of teaching in postmodern America / Peter Sacks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sacks, Peter.

Contributor:

James Hosmer Penniman Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

College teaching--United States.

College teaching.

Generation X.

United States.

College students--United States--Attitudes.

College students.

Generation X--United States--Attitudes.

Postmodernism and education--United States.

Postmodernism and education.

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives--United States.

Education, Higher.

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives.

Physical Description:

xiv, 208 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Ill. : Open Court, [1996]

Summary:

This is an incredible, amusing, horrifying, yet true story, in which all names have been changed to protect the guilty. It tells how the author, a journalist turned college professor, came face to face with Generation X: jaded, unachieving, highly demanding yet lacking any respect for standards or intelligence. These insouciant scholars wore bored looks, ample attitudes, and reversed baseball caps. They expected to earn top grades by just showing up in class, which they interrupted with their portable TVs, cellular phones, or personal pagers. For his own survival as a teacher, Sacks decided to play a bizarre, cynical game: The Sandbox Experiment, in which he catered to the whims of his students as though they were kindergartners. It worked: Sacks became a great success as a 'teacher', got tenure, and now continues to 'teach' at the strange, appalling institution he calls 'The College'.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-201) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the James Hosmer Penniman Book Fund.

ISBN:

0812693140

OCLC:

34320666