Another Life-Altering Meeting

Well, today we sat in a big room with 7 pieces of paper, and tried, in groups of four, to form them into a square. My group placed two triangles together, dumped the remaining pieces on top, and got into a very lively discussion with the AP in charge over whether we were "cheating," as she put it, or "thinking outside the box," our preferred interpretion.

Many words were written on the blackboard and bandied about, virtually none of which I precisely understood. That is, they made sense individually, but proved problematic when presented in the order chosen by the speaker. Now, I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. I don't like to brag, but I am a high school graduate.

Various of the group leaders went up and assessed the activity. The first teacher wanted to know how this activity would prepare kids for college, where the preferred teaching method was "chalk and talk," the evils of which had formed the basis of several previous meetings. Another observed that it lacked an aim and a motivation, and was therefore of no demonstrable value. The last group leader suggested an excellent motivation: a Get out of Jail Free card, which would relieve the bearer of attending faculty conferences for the entire years it was issued.

That gets my vote.