/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.22750584]

Any other academics here? Wondering if I'm the only one shitposting about Victorian lit while grading a stack of papers.
How have students been for you, post-covid? The ones at my university seem socially stunted and even less prepared for college/independent life than they used to be, but maybe I'm just getting older. I had a student in a comp class who wrote one giant wall of text for a personal narrative draft and when I asked him about paragraphs/topic sentences he said something to the effect of "I thought those were only in books, we have to do those?"
On the other hand, the top students are really spectacular this semester. A few are putting on a reading of Dickens in the quad for Christmas after they light the campus tree.
Mostly I'm curious if any of the other anons here pretend to be normal enough to exist as professors while writing up schizophrenic drunken rants about Foucault and Adorno in their free time
For anyone, I'm putting together my lit survey syllabus for next semester. Any books/poetry you really loved as an undergrad, or wish you'd been assigned? I don't really teach American lit but anything else is fair game

[Anonymous No.22750591]

You ever fuck? The co-eds of course.

[Anonymous No.22750594]

>>22750584
You went along with making covid a thing and let the powers that be jerk you around, I bet you got vaccinated too

[Anonymous No.22750596]

>>22750591
No, just the emotional support dogs in the library

[Anonymous No.22750599]

>>22750596
That was always the gayest shit ever. And all the little faggots that went to pet them during finals week because they were "sooooo stressed" pissed me off to no end. Grow up. Grow some skin. That's why these liberal college pussies are such faggots these days. They can't do a week of hard work without breaking down in tears and needing to pet an animal for emotional support. Fucking fags.

[Anonymous No.22750614]

>>22750584
I teach nurses and I'm told by administration to just give everyone a pass, no mattet how incompetent they are. These students, while in their 20s, never really developed their mind beyond that of a child. Sometimes I feel like I'm teaching high schoolers, not someone who's going to be preforming triage in a few years, deciding who can live long enough to wait to see a doctor in an hour and who cant. It truly is terrifying. These women should not be within 20 feet of a needle, let alone giving advice about vaccines and surgeries.

[Anonymous No.22750617]

>>22750591
No, but once in a while you can tell one is very much interested. I feel bad mostly--I assume they don't have a strong male role model and are looking for intimacy wherever they can find it.
They do have great tits, though.
>>22750594
If you think an assistant professor at a SLAC has any power whatsoever over even THAT SCHOOL'S admin, let alone the entire country's healthcare, I don't know what to tell you.
>>22750596
>>22750599
We have one. Big fat yellow lab. The kids take her for walks and overfeed her. I'd take 100 emotional support dogs over the deluge of suddenly sick or dead relatives and BS "disability accommodations" that basically amount to "I can't be asked to do any work on any meaningful deadline and it's your problem now"

[Anonymous No.22750621]

>>22750599
>go to library to do some actual work
>distracted by the Stacies fawning over the heckin floofers
At least the Stacies had cute butts, gave me coomer fuel

[Anonymous No.22750630]

>>22750614
Maybe you shouldn't be at a community college where they give out AA's in nursing....

[Anonymous No.22750633]

>>22750617
I find most of the kids with these "accommodations" fail the course anyways.

[Anonymous No.22750637]

>>22750630
Maybe you should learn to use dashes of ellipses.

[Anonymous No.22750640]

>>22750637
Can you show me a dash of your ellipses... Big guy...

[Anonymous No.22750641]

>>22750584
>I thought those were only in books, we have to do those?
Based, he's right

[Anonymous No.22750645]

>>22750640
He's a phoneposter. He's talking about the special ellipses character on the iPhone when you press and hold the period button.

[Anonymous No.22750658]

>>22750645
>it's an iPhoneposter
Yikes

[Anonymous No.22750659]

>>22750614
Brutal. Once I started teaching I realized very acutely how there's one summer that separates the drunk, unmotivated seniors from jobs that could literally mean life and death. Enrollment numbers are down so we're also basically being told to just push everyone through because losing students is a no-go
>>22750641
He's going to be a politician or a CEO some day, I just know it. You can't teach that level of willful ignorance. Life is meant for people with no self-awareness.

[Anonymous No.22750681]

OP would you say you're at a well known university, or are you at a community college for poor white kids?

[Anonymous No.22750694]

>>22750645
No. I mean properly using ellipses in the context of omitting part of a sentence, not as a way of ending a complete sentence.

[Anonymous No.22750708]

>>22750694
>omitting a part of a sentence
Oh, you think I didn't omit part of the sentence. You're low IQ.

[Anonymous No.22750723]

>>22750681
It's a SLAC that's reasonably selective. You likely have heard of it at least in passing.

[Anonymous No.22750728]

>>22750708
>Maybe you shouldn't be at a community college where they give out AA's in nursing....
This is a complete sentence. And now that I look closer I see you used four periods. Better luck next time, genius.

[Anonymous No.22750737]

>>22750591
Nta but I’ve lost a job and a career in that field because of this. Granted it was high school but it left me persona non grata in the education/academic field

[Anonymous No.22750754]

>>22750584
I'm a doctoral student doing a literature PhD, considered an incredibly normal and charismatic person by my peers.
I've only had post-Covid students, but the ones that I had right after Covid ended were better than these more recent ones. I think it's that if they had the online schooling too early, then they end up retarded. However, I can't prove it.

[Anonymous No.22750756]

you fucking schizos get on my nerves

[Anonymous No.22750780]

>>22750728
>This is a complete sentence.
Astute observation poindexter. But your IQ is low you can't even comprehend that more words could be added to that sentence.

[Anonymous No.22750796]

>>22750599
>muh im strong man so strong ugabuga me no need support
yeah i think you are the faggot here

[Anonymous No.22750804]

>>22750754
That's probably right. I wonder if it'll start getting better again soon given that the students the next few years will have had all of highschool in person to resocialize them.
>>22750737
Probably don't fuck highschoolers anon.

[Anonymous No.22750811]

>>22750796
You're kind of a huge fag if your life goes to shambles because you have to take some exams. It's called self-control faggot. Learn it.

[Anonymous No.22750816]

>>22750756
Midwits get on mine

[Anonymous No.22750817]

>>22750804
>I wonder if it'll start getting better again soon given that the students the next few years will have had all of highschool in person to resocialize them.
I doubt it. Standards dropped everywhere, and schools are consistently just passing people through. Either everyone has to admit that a few years of people are at a serious disadvantage or we have to keep the standards low. But, when those standards get lowered, it's often done with the veneer of "the previous standards were racist because X% of BIPOC people fail regularly", so the standards can't be re-implemented.
On top of that, society won't fall apart because of them being so fucking stupid. Society is already a well-lubricated and finely-tuned machine. If anything, society will become smoother, stupider, more tightly organized.

[Anonymous No.22750883]

>>22750737
For what its worth, its left you a person grata in my heart anon
>t. substitute teacher whos always getting eyefucked by the nymphy 14 y/os

[Anonymous No.22751104]

>>22750584
Make them read shit you've written

[Anonymous No.22751117]

I get the feeling my professors think im a retard....

[Anonymous No.22751144]

>>22751117
I doubt it. Students who at least engage with the material I think well of, even if they're still new to the concepts and methods. Really the only students I think are stupid are the ones who outright don't do any of the work and don't go to class. You're just lighting money on fire and even if you get the degree, why skip the best chance in your life to learn across many subjects from experts before you get your "real job"?

[Anonymous No.22751159]

>>22750817
Yeah, society will be in great shape in 20 years when all the boomer tradies are gone and there is nobody to keep the lights on.

[Anonymous No.22751178]

>>22751144
Im just quiet and dont say anything

[Anonymous No.22751180]

>>22751159
I worry for our infrastructure. Export bridge collapses and elevator collapses to become extremely common about 30 years from now. Not to mention high rise and apartment collapses.

That condo collapse in Florida wasn't an anomaly. It was bellwether.

[Anonymous No.22751286]

>>22750599
I 100% agree with you. We’ve allowed people to become totally soft and it shows in everything.
>>22750796
No, you are definitely the faggot.

[Anonymous No.22751291]

>>22750633
It’s really no surprise. If you can’t get your shit together to do basic level undergrad course work, you’re probably a retard.

[Anonymous No.22751294]

I had to explain to way too many college students that humanitarianism, feminism and being a minority are not examples of creativity.

[Anonymous No.22751304]

To professors and academics out there, have you noticed a sharp decline in the ability of students? What are some examples, other than those posted already?
My impression in undergrad four years ago is that it was already hopelessly bad. I would talk to one of the department heads and he’d go on about how all standards have completely dropped. How kids would come to college without even being able to spell or write a basic essay. At the beginning of each class (an upper level class) he’d go over a basic grammar rule that he kept finding in our weekly papers.
What are your experiences? Has it really gotten way worse across the board?

[Anonymous No.22751330]

>>22751286
>Couldn't get coed poon so he just seethes at Fido instead
Damn bro you are a certified hard ass

[Anonymous No.22751338]

>>22751304
Students in calculus don't understand basic algebra.
Students in algebra can't think abstractly.

[Anonymous No.22751344]

>>22751304
>What are your experiences? Has it really gotten way worse across the board?
Highschool teacher, but I come across a couple of kids who are surprisingly clever every year. One kid for example, we were discussing what we did in our free time, started listing off the effects of different poisons he had read about on wikipedia. Apparently he was terrified of being poisoned so he liked to keep up on the literature. Iraqi immigrant, spoke half a dozen languages fluently, interesting background. Most are fairly smart. Its rare to come across people who are actually dumb desu. Cant speak for university though, I went to a top tier LAC and some of people there were straight retarded.

[Anonymous No.22751408]

>>22751330
>I can’t take some basic ass test without breaking down and crying
Grow up

[Anonymous No.22751430]

>>22750633
This, I give extensions out like candy because I don’t really give a shit when it gets in (within reason). Kids are either gonna do the work or not, it’s unbelievable how many will simply take a fat 0 in their grades without taking the effort to just drop the class.

[Anonymous No.22751476]

>>22751430
They’re probably depressed and don’t realize it. Apathy is very insidious

[Anonymous No.22751484]

>>22751476
Oh I’m sure they’re depressed but I would reach out these kids, tell them “hey fuck what the professor says, I’m going to give you full credit if you just get it in. Email me if you need help, we’ll go through it.” One kid did this in my three years of doing it. At a certain point you can only reach your hand out so far. It’s sad but telling about the direction things are goin.

[Anonymous No.22751493]

>>22750723
Wake forest?

[Anonymous No.22751512]

>>22751430
>have small course of a dozen students
>one student on the register never shows up
>check with university if there was a mistake or he dropped
>nope
>term ends never seeing him and he gets a zero
>next term same course
>he is enrolled again
>never comes again

[Anonymous No.22751533]

>>22751512
Whatever you do, dont ask if theyre a couple of "spooks" and start banging the janitor. Trust me, it doesnt work out for you.

[Anonymous No.22751545]

>>22751512
Student loan fraud, maybe?

[Anonymous No.22751551]

>>22751484
I agree but I’m just playing a devil’s advocate of sorts. If I can go back and do it all over again I would have gone to college in my mid 20’s instead of right out of high school. A lot of kids feel that that is what one does. Goes to college right out of high school. Most aren’t ready for it and have the motivation and decision making skills to make choices that will potentially affect their lives in a large degree. I dealt with depression when I was younger and mostly didn’t realize it. Hard to notice things when everything is colored grey. Motivation, enjoyment, and desire just weren’t there and I didn’t know it. I was a kick the can down the road person. Worry about problems when they arise. I would have never taken up a professors offer for help because that would mean swallowing my pride and even admitting something I wasn’t aware of. Oftentimes distance and time enables one to get a perspective of what things truly are. The difference between me in my 30’s and me as a young man is night and day and it boggles my mind that I couldn’t grasp that something was wrong. Hell, if I could go to a few classes for free now, I probably would just to learn, degree be damned. If I could make over the university system I would make sweeping changes. Businesses and corporations are too much in bed with colleges. The latter has become a cash cow because now every job needs a degree even if it really doesn’t. I wish I could make it so those who wanted to go to college would and they wouldn’t be forced to because they could earn a decent living without a degree. I would encourage kids to go to college when they want to and are more mature, even if that is when you are 25 years old. Kids are just growing up and maturing later than they used to and universities aren’t sliding with that change. And don’t get me started on the cannibalistic “for us, by us” self enclosed style of academia that is stifling, tedious, and becoming more and more increasingly niche

Just ranting and giving my 2 cents but it’s good you give kids a chance. Sometimes they just have to hold on and get through their funk.

[Anonymous No.22751554]

>>22750817
I don't know, if you don't think that having everybody in government, healthcare, and other fields relating to the general maintenance of society be a great deal more incompetent won't result in drastic consequences when they start to cut corners they don't even know how to cut, or entire fields of knowledge become lost because there simply isn't anyone intelligent enough to carry the torch, you might be a bit naive.

[Anonymous No.22751559]

>>22751554
I don't think people in the upper crust are getting dumber. I think the lower crust is getting worse. The disparity is being allowed to grow, the class divide is growing larger. As there is a decrease in the necessity of "good" propaganda to convince the lower crust that everything is ok, they stop doing it. They just shitpost in public, or argue about nothing.
This is modern politics, an empty smokeshow.

[Anonymous No.22751562]

it's very likely I know at least one of you guys in this thread IRL. don't think I don't recognize a /lit/erati when I see one. yes, sometimes I drop hints and hope you pick up on them. other times, I straight up out you.

[Anonymous No.22751567]

>>22751533
What happens if you bang the janitor?

[Anonymous No.22751580]

I know this isn't exactly what you're asking but I recently had covid and for some reason I've found my ability to read very boring prose like the Bible has increased dramatically
Has anyone else had reverse-brain fog?

[Anonymous No.22751654]

>>22751117
Same bro.

[Anonymous No.22751685]

>>22750780
Complete sentences do not become incomplete just because you add ellipsis at the end. Complete sentences do not exist in a quantum state of being complete and incomplete. I'm not the anon youre arguing with but it sincerely pisses me off how often people fail at using ellipsis. It's like ending your sentence with a semicolon. It's wrong. When this thread is pruned and forgotten I hope you never make this mistake again.

[Anonymous No.22751694]

>>22751304
Unquestionably. I could go on for days.

[Anonymous No.22751698]

>>22751685
>When this thread is pruned and forgotten I hope you never make this mistake again.
A comma should be placed at the end that dependent clause.

[Anonymous No.22751701]

>>22750584
My wife and I are both PhD students in English lit at a top 10 (non-Ivy) school. She studies medieval lit, mostly focusing on emotional aesthetics in autobiographical poetry, while I’m writing my dissertation on art, authenticity, and Actualism in Gaddis, Wallace, and some others who my supervisory committee forced me to include for lib points.

I taught a course on sci-fi and fantasy this semester, but I’m teaching a course on Knausgaard next year—it’s my own designed course, so I’m pretty excited. There’s no undergrad program in medieval lit here, so my wife is stuck teaching courses like “Children’s Literature” to mostly nursing and education students looking for an easy English credit. The students in my class are abysmal, and I’ve only given two A’s out of 60 students. Both my wife and I have noticed a sharp decline in the quality of the students in the last few years. We went to less prestigious schools for our MAs, yet the students were by far more capable in forming an argument, structuring an essay, and actually providing quality evidence and explanation. I can’t tell you how many students this semester have written papers to the tune of “Lovecraft is a good science fiction author because his books are scary.” My wife blames it on the influx of international students, but I honestly think it must have to do with the declining quality of the American school system—these kids just never learn how to write a damn essay. Honestly, even the MA students in my department seem less capable these days, which shows because there haven’t been any recent admits to the PhD program directly from the MA program—many are actually international students from Canada, Korea, China, etc. (My wife is from China, but she did her MA in the US)

I become more and more disillusioned with academia each passing year. While it’s been my dream since I was a small child, I’m no longer confident I’m cut out for the liberal cesspool of the humanities anymore.

[Anonymous No.22751705]

>>22751304
People are posting students, but does anyone else find coworkers and fellow professors retarded and insufferable often?

[Anonymous No.22751709]

>>22751701
Kek. I know you

[Anonymous No.22751716]

>>22751117
I wonder the same. I'm an international student raised in a non-English speaking country that was mostly not used to English lit. I nonetheless ended up declaring an English major (double majoring it with something else though) and I always feel stupid because articulating my thoughts is clearly not as easy as it would be in my native language and because I am clearly not as familiar with the English canon as other people are. I always feel dwarfed when an author I've heard of is mentioned by a professor and I see other students claiming to have read it while I'm just there being the idiot that has heard of the name but never read a work from them.

I try to make it up with the enthusiasm though.

[Anonymous No.22751740]

My students have the strangest goddamned names I've ever seen. Nevaeh, Alizytl, Livny, Deyka, D'Ondra...

[Anonymous No.22752143]

>>22751567
It would be very painful

[Anonymous No.22752147]

>>22751701
>only 2 As out of 60 students
So you're an awful teacher?

[Anonymous No.22752261]

>>22750756
>hurr durr nobody has a phd
4channel is unironically full of PhD students and holders for whatever reason, certainly massively overrepresented compared to the general population

I think it's because when you're autistic enough to let this website raise you it's easy to get snared by academia

[Anonymous No.22752265]

>>22751740
have you tried not teaching niggers

[Anonymous No.22752268]

>>22751701
>My wife and I are both PhD students in English lit
this is honestly the most shocking part of your post. how does someone doing a PhD in English lit get a wife? is she some sort of financial masochist?

[Anonymous No.22752274]

>>22751701
>My wife is from China
oh, I apologize, disregard >>22752268 . for a second there I thought you had a real one.

[Anonymous No.22752278]

>>22750584
>Any other academics here?
You fucking LOVE calling yourself that don't you kek

[Anonymous No.22752308]

>>22750584
I actually hate academics

[Anonymous No.22752314]

>>22751685
Let me help you, retard. Add "like candy" at the end of the sentence. That's what the ellipses were suppressing. Have a good day, retard.

[Anonymous No.22752319]

>>22751701
There is no way your Chinese spy wife is studying European Medieval literature. Nice larp, weeb faggot.

[Anonymous No.22752338]

>>22750584
>professor
>drunk
>Foulcault-reading faggot

KYS you absolute parasite.

[Anonymous No.22752379]

>>22752143
The Janny's a big guy.

[Anonymous No.22752384]

>>22752274
Seething white femoid

[Anonymous No.22752466]

>>22750584
> Wondering if I'm the only one shitposting about Victorian lit while grading a stack of papers
You have done no such thing, you retarded faggot

[Anonymous No.22752479]

>>22751701
> but I’m teaching a course on Knausgaard next year
Sad state of this board when the morons believed this part of your post and didn’t even doubt the very first sentence and only called you out when you mentioned you are married to a bugwoman

[Anonymous No.22752505]

>>22752384
I'm a slav incel

[Anonymous No.22752547]

> Any books/poetry you really loved as an undergrad, or wish you'd been assigned?
Please no romantic subplots. Every time I had a novel assignment and the love romance subplot came in I just wanted to kill myself, not because I hate love, but because there's a 80% chance that it's poorly written and just blocks you from reading the things both you and the author actually care about.

[Anonymous No.22752555]

>>22752547
>just blocks you from reading
just skim the parts that won't be relevant later.

[Anonymous No.22752731]

>>22751701
>Chinese wife
I give F subtract. Family cry.

[Anonymous No.22752880]

>went to school for an undergrad
>like an idiot I took a full load of fourth year courses in my fourth year
>got filtered hard by Grotius and Chaucer because my courseload had about 1000 pages of reading a week
>still passed but barely
>realize I'm a midwit at best despite my delusions of grandeur
>fucking slay pretentious art hoe pussy because I genuinely love post/modernism and write mediocre poetry
>kept up on reading, realize most people are midwits and I definitely could have done a masters, maybe more
>wind up in a well paying but dead end job where I need to go back to school
>torn between actually trying to be an academic and just getting a comercial real estate certification
Thanks for reading my blog. Any advice? The prospects in teaching seem pretty grim, but I could probably work on my short story collection.

[Anonymous No.22753019]

>>22750584
i'll be starting a phd at cambridge next year. aiming to continue going down the academia route until i die

[Anonymous No.22753023]

>>22753019
Sure, bud. Whatever you say.

[Anonymous No.22753032]

>>22753023
i'll post a pic to prove it to you next october

[Anonymous No.22753036]

>>22753032
Just post the offer letter Cambridge sent you

[Anonymous No.22753076]

>>22753019
Offer letters haven't been sent out yet doofus. The applications probably haven't even closed yet considering it's still November.

[Anonymous No.22753151]

>>22753036
>>22753076
>Offer letters haven't been sent out yet doofus.
this is true... i am just about to submit my application. but i am feeling optimistic because i already have a degree from the other place. i should have said "i believe i'll be starting a phd at cambridge next year..."

[Anonymous No.22753170]

>>22753151
Words have meaning, retard. The fact that you’re this stupid does not inspire confidence. Enjoy waging at tesco

[Anonymous No.22753401]

>>22750617
Who is John Galt, like just walk away nigger

[Anonymous No.22753543]

>>22752880
>Don't have a chance in lit academics
>Better try commercial real estate
Have you also tried to being an NBA star? The commercial real estate market is collapsing. Maybe try picking a career with better than a 1 in a thousand chance of success? Like do some job prospects research anon.

[Anonymous No.22753592]

>>22753543
Andrew Tate told him real hustlers do Real Estate, and also drop-shipping of Chinese products that are banned on Amazon and most US retailers.

[Anonymous No.22753629]

>>22753543
>>22753592
I already work in commercial real estate and have five years experience. I do analytics. If I get my brokers license I can very easily move to one of the big brokerages. The flip side, I worked for the Ministry of Education for a while doing analytics and if I get my masters I can leverage it for a cushy government job that's more in line with my skillset. The problem is that the paths are mutually exclusive and a masters costs much more money, though the prospects seem less comission based.

[Anonymous No.22754155]

>>22753151
>i should have said "i believe i'll be starting a phd at cambridge next year..."

lol. nothing wrong with some optimism. good luck to you anon.

[Anonymous No.22754165]

>>22751545

No, I was also like this. It's a kind of retardation is all. Just kind of hoping for the best and paralysis, also laziness. I probably spent several thousand dollars taking the same class over and over again.