So I'm teaching a class this summer on moments of media transition and there was this older gentleman (a retired medical school professor) who asked me if he could be an auditor. I let him sit in and he slowly began participating. Soon though, his comments showed a complete lack of engagement with the issues of the class and he started behaving like a jerk. I think there were some gender issues going on as well but that is up for debate.
When I got to Dada photomontage, he raised his hand to tell my whole class that he thought the art was "garbage." He lamented that Dada artists could have produced "beautiful" art rather than this "crap." My students, who were clearly paying attention, shot back at him. So, in this case, his comments were quite useful for teaching purposes. Strawmen rule.
Another time he cut down one of my students. I then had to cut the elder down.
The final gaffe: My students gave presentations on video art from the 1970's. One group presented Richard Serra's Television Delivers People. The elder raised his hand and asked if he could make a comment (this is after the students have presented the piece, given their very good interpretation of it as a critique of passive viewing habits/intrusion of mass media into the private sphere). His assessment: "this is a bunch of marxist drivel." And then a five-minute rant that I tried to preempt to no avail. He would not shut up. There must have been steam coming out of my ears.
The result: I told him that his "capacity as an auditor has been exceeded." And then, "it's nothing personal but I'm going to have to ask you to stop sitting in." He was disappointed but understood. Lesson: no pushy elders ever again.
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