[For my son-in-law “Mr Z”, a prof at Maranatha Baptist University in
Wisconsin]
The rules at a particular university were such that if the professor were
not present in the classroom by 15 minutes past the hour, the class was
considered a “walk” and the students were free to leave – with no penalties
for missing a class.
The rooms were equipped with the type wall clocks that “jumped” ahead each
minute, in a very noticeable fashion. As it were, these clocks were also not
of the most sophisticated construction. Some enterprising student discovered
that if one were to hit the clock with chalkboard erasers, it would cause
the clock to “jump” ahead 1 minute.
It became almost daily practice for these students to take target practice
at the clock (as it would have it, this particular professor was not the
most punctual, and the students considered him severely “absent-minded”). A
few well aimed erasers, and lo, 15 minutes were passed, and class dismissed
itself.
Well, when the day for the next exam rolled around, the professor strolled
into the room, passed out the exams, and told them “You have 1 hour to
complete”.
The professor then proceeded to collect the erasers from around the room,
gleefully taking aim at the clock. When he had successfully “jumped” the
clock forward 1 hour, he closed the class and collected the exam papers.
Life does teach some lessons the hard way.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”