I recently finished teaching 12th grade Humanities and AP English, and so it is now time to put up the quotes that I have had building up on small slips of paper on my desk.
The AP class was reading No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre.
Me: “According to the play, what is hell?”
Student 1: “Hell is other people.”
Student 2: “Like Walmart!”
A later discussion in the class in which a student was referring to Greek mythology:
Student 1: “So Zeus comes down as an elephant to have sex with some woman, and…”
Everyone else: “Ouch!”
In the introduction to a student’s outline for his artist speech:
“Vincent van Gogh cut off his left earlobe to give to a prostitute. How’s that for an attention getter.”
A discussion held on December 8th:
Student 1: “Does anyone know why the flag is at half mast today?”
Student 2: “Pearl Harbor Day was yesterday.”
Student 1: “But that was yesterday!”
Student 2: “Well, they’re still dead.”
From an essay on the final exam discussing a close-up of a flower by Georgia O’Keeffe (and referring to the rather… erm… Freudian ideas that have become associated with many of them):
“For once, I believe O’Keefe was simply trying to capture the simply beauty of a common flower, in a non-vaginal way.”
Another final exam essay, this one discussing our philosophy unit:
“It was interesting to hear everyone’s opinions on different ideas. I had some ideas planted in my head and some ideas left my head.”
And one last quote from an exam question discussing religion (and the massive overpopulation of the planet that seems to have snuck up on me unawares):
“In my opinion, religion was most important because it is such a big part of everyday life for trillions of people around the world.”
