In the last two weeks of my class, Jesus of Nazareth, we take brief stops in each of the Gospels to give a perspective on the overall theology and style of each Evangelist. Recently we were looking at John. It is the end of the semester, students are working late into the night to get everything done by the end of the term, and tend to come to the 8am class a bit tired. So, the class was anything but a vigorous discussion.
I came to the Signs in John’s Gospel, mentioned Jesus’ turning the water into wine, and that made me think (as a form of getting a little vibration into the lecture) of Jesus’ turning the water into “red, red wine” by UB40. A student who had come to class late (and only after we called him on a cell phone to wake him up), looked interested, so I asked him if he knew the song. He stood up and said this: “Scot, this class is soooooo boring today. How about if I sing ‘Red, Red Wine’ and you let me go to breakfast.” So I did and he did and then he left and we all had a laugh.
In 22 years of teaching, this is the most unusual request I’ve had for how to get out of class. Any other stories?
College kids, even those who can’t sing but will sing in public, you gotta luv ’em.