Slogans

Another semester has started, and with it come fresh feelings of contempt for my peers.

In one class a boring professor started off by assigning group work in which students wrote down answers to broad questions like "What is effective teaching?" and then wrote answers on the board to discuss with the class. In response to this one girl wrote the words, "REACH TO TEACH."
When asked what this meant she replied, "It's a saying I made up. It just means, you know, you can't teach'em if you can't reach'em!"
"Do you reach them?" asked boring professor.
"Yeah, I think so." said the girl.
"How far do you reach?" asked the professor.
"As far as I need to," said the girl.
They exchanged meaningful glances.

In my experience, one thing that most education classes have in common is a fondness for bad slogans. Every concept needs its own memorable catch phrase, preferably one that is short, and involves either rhyming or alliteration. Last semester I participated in a group presentation on Linda Albert's "Cooperative Discipline," a theory of classroom management that involved "The 3 C's," "The 5 A's," "The 6 R's," and God knows how many others. I could barely discuss it straight-faced.

So while my first reaction to "Reach to Teach!" was one of disdain, I feel as though I know where it comes from. This girl has no doubt been to as many education classes as I have, she's internalized all this slogan making, and, having concluded that this is what the education game is about, she has decided to play along. In the moment where she and the professor exchanged meaningful looks, I thought I knew what the professor was thinking. I thought she was thinking, "Dear God, this girl is going to work with children." However, less than thirty minutes later when this same professor showed us a video that included the phrase, "Engage them, don't enrage them!" I changed my mind.
Now I think that in that pregnant pause the professor was likely thinking, "Reach to teach.... Can I steal that?"