I did it

Background:
This week, Phi Alpha Delta is sponsoring their semi-annual canned food drive. The basic rules are - bring a can to class, get a pass from the prof. Professors can refuse to participate, participate and adopt the rules as they are, reject them outright , or adopt them with modifications as they see fit.

Professor Crim Law - Outright rejection (though it is unclear whether he intended to participate). He continued to call on folks who had already been called on (despite others having not yet been) and those who had cans in front of them...and people who had both been called and also had cans...the double-shaftees.

Professor Torts - Accepted rules as they were. A can in front of you = a pass and as you might imagine, nearly everyone brought cans creating open season on the handful who did not.

Professor Contracts - Accepted the rules with modifications:
1. The cans had to contain decent food & anyone with anything gross or weird was fair game to be called on - which predictably brought out vienna sausages and potted meat product the following day.
2. You were only allowed to invoke the can=pass protection 1 day during the week (class meets 4 times) and could choose which day it would be
*3. Amended rule - due to a double session of class on Thursday (to make up for a previously cancelled class), you were entitled to protection for only 1 of the 2 hours of that class and could choose which hour it would be.

Professor Civ Pro - adopted the rules with modifications (different day 1 & day 2)
Day One:
1. Since 1 can was too boring, you had to bring 3 cans
2. Cans had to contain something she would reasonably like to eat (no "pigs feet or canned okra")
3. If you were called on and you had the cans you could either take the heat, or you could get credit for being prepared AND designate a fellow classmate to take the fall for you.

This created an interesting dilemma - take the heat or pass it on? There were obvious advantages to taking the heat yourself - gratitude of fellow classmates, not having to out someone, and the admiration of the prof for being a stand-up guy. Clearly, though, there was incentive to pass the buck - not having to be on...and not having to be on (the subject matter this week is fairly complicated and the cases are tedious and dull). If you choose someone...who should it be?

Day Two:
1. Can(s) had to be interesting (and same rule about grossness applied)
2. If you were called on and you had can(s) you could choose to be on, or put another student in your stead
3. If the other person you chose ALSO had can(s), the class would vote on the interestingness of each student's offering - the less interesting of which would be on.

I got the call on day 2. First question...'would you like to take the questions or choose someone else?' I chose someone else. I chose the gunner. I had thought about it and came up with the best case scenario...go for the gunners. First of all, they enjoy being the center of attention, they like showing off their big brains, they like monopolizing class time and prof's attention, they deserve a bit of retribution for irritating the rest of us and they are most lkely to be prepared and least likely to be offended to get the call. Now, which gunner would it be? I decided to go for the one who wastes the most amount of my time with endless questions and head-pat-seeking behavior and who, quite fortuitously, had pointed out something the day before that had it not been pointed out might have been beneficial to the rest of the class. There were audible gasps, snickers, and sounds of shock/appreciation...which I hadn't expected. The gunner didn't look happy. I didn't care. The gunner was not well prepared. I didn't care. The gunner probably thought I was picking on him/her. I didn't care. It was a small victory and sweet reward for the past few months. After class, someone told me that they were in love with me now. Ahhh - it was all worth it. Good day.

Comments

[JM]

The can thing sounds way too complicated for my pea brain to follow (probably why I'm not in law school!) but damn -- going for the gunner? Good on ya!