Dr. Blake Stepping on Toes, Squelching Spirits
in New Role as Student
After a lifetime of advising patients and educating medical students, Dr.
Robert Blake has taken on a new role, as a student in undergraduate English
courses at the
ìItís just one more step,î Blake said, ìin a never-ending quest for infinite wisdom and unquestioned superiority.î
While Blake says he enjoys classes and the opportunity to work with students in a new field, there is some concern among classmates and even instructors about his ìoverbearingî presence.
ìDr. Blake is not a team player,î said Mr. Steven Thorpe, who has earned one doctorate in philosophy and another in literature, but recently dropped his ìDr.î prefix at the request of Dr. Blake.
ìI just felt that was very misleading,î Dr. Blake said. ìTo have seen what Iíve seen in my career, some of the patients I treated back in North Carolina, to have punctured spines with needles and tasted the urine of MSUD Mennonites, itís almost insulting to have a critic of words effectively raise himself to my level by assuming a common title.î
Mr. Thorpe describes his creative writing class, in which Dr. Blake is enrolled, as a writing workshop, where students share their work with each other, offering criticism and encouragement.
ìI will be the first to admit,î Mr. Thorpe said, ìthat criticism is a fine art and we try to avoid dictating what is or is not appropriate. However, we do draw the line at maliciously shredding the confidence of others. These sessions are supposed to be constructive, nurturing to the young writers, not demoralizing. I donít believe Dr. Blake has quite caught onto the spirit of the game.î
A number of students have complained that Dr. Blakeís grading is excessively petty and his expectations unreasonable.
ìThe guy is full of shit,î one student said. ìMy last assignment, just to expose his bullshit, I typed out an excerpt from Vladimir Nabokovís Laughter in the Dark. When he finished with it, the first three paragraphs were literally obliterated with red marks. I couldnít even read the text. Then, for the next two pages, there was nothing but an occasional red dot or question mark. At the end, he wrote, ëThis story is the product of faulty thinking from a weak, incapable mind. Donít even think of appealing.í What kind of horseshit is that?î
Other students have complained of Dr. Blakeís scanty explanations for corrections and his frequent use of sarcastic scribblings, such as, ëNope,í ëUnlikelyí and ëGrading was generous.íî
ìWhere does this guy get off trashing my work like that?î one student asked. ìAnd whatís the deal with his point reductions heís always writing off in the margins? Itís like ëminus 5,í ëminus 12,í ë0 points.í I donít even know how many points thatís out of. What the hell? I thought we didnít even have grades in this class.î
Despite the irritation, there are signs that some students are trying to adjust to Dr. Blakeís unconventional ways.
ìAt first, I was just really
annoyed,î sophomore Laura Wilkes said. ìBut then I started to worry and wanted
to figure out what I needed to do to get his approval. So a few of us talked to
him and asked him to elaborate on his comments. He refused, but did offer to
schedule appointments with us in his office, one at a time, to go over our
individual papers.î
ìYeah, that was nice,î Mr.
Thorpe said. ìWhat a great guy that Dr. Blake is, inconveniencing himself to
meet privately, as if he were some kind of authority, with the students whose
self-esteem he wrecks on a weekly basis. What a holy
humanitarianî
Mr. Thorpe also expressed
concern that Dr. Blake seemed to have scheduled his private meetings precisely
to conflict with Mr. Thorpeís previously scheduled student-teacher
conferences.
ìThe man is trying to usurp
my authority,î Mr. Thorpe said. ìHe thinks heís going to control this class. He
thinks he is going to take it all over and have me sitting in a small desk
breathing in his charlatan gospel. Jesus Christ, the man already owns the
medical school. When will he ever stop? When will he have had
enough?î
To this question, Dr. Blake
simply shakes his head and squints, as if irritated by an ignorant lesser life
form, such as a mollusk, which has by some freak of nature gained the function
of speech and, even more astonishingly, admission to an institution of higher
learning.
Dr. Blakeís next endeavor will be a lunch time lecture to members of his
writing class, several of whom requested his appearance so they could ask about
tips for improving their scores on his evaluations.
ìThis should be very helpful,î Dr. Blake said. ìBasically, I plan to work
through a sample manuscript, demonstrating along the way the kind of thinking
Iím expecting from students in blockÖ or I mean week, four.î
While students seem to be adjusting, however gradually, to the ways of
their older classmate, many of Dr. Blakeís antics continue to generate
disapproval.
ìFor homecoming, we asked him to help on our float,î said Mandy Joyce,
sophomore member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. ìWhen he said yes, I was really
excited. I thought it would be a lot of fun for him to get a new taste of
college life, and to see the sorts of things young people are capable of when
they put their minds to it.
ìBut then, as soon as he
came over, it was like he had to take control and dominate everything. He
started talking about his experience making floats back in