Maybe the problem is a lack of maturation. Considering my rural, small town background, the "fish out of water" connotation might apply to me during my undergraduate years at the University of Illinois. I blame my four years of high school. What a big waste of time. The teachers were not to blame. Intellectual stimulation was not on the table in a place where 85% of the students were not college bound.
These early teen years where I was able to get away with doing very little work made me lazy. This laziness remained while at the UofI, though I was able to shake it off whenever I found a class that I actually liked. Disinterest in the material was a major impediment: for the typical class (mostly history, as that was my major) scanning about 60% of the so-called required reading was sufficient for obtaining a "B." My first two years of undergrad I got straight Bs.
Maybe it is time that I arrived at the thrust of my post, before I am accused of too many longwinded introductions. I never really connected with my history classes. The professors were as dry as the material. My major required that I also take 20 hours of another subject. So I began taking English classes. One of these classes was an American literature class taught by one Michael Berube. I do not remember if it was Berube himself or his selection of required readings that caused me to finally connect with the material. Suddenly I liked what I was reading. I was spurred to think and have ideas.
Last night I was looking up the bio of Joseph Conrad when it suddenly occurred to me to type in Michael Berube's name in the Google search. The search revealed that Berube is an author, with several books to his credit, and many articles. Berube even has a blog. Looking at his credits and writings, it strikes me that Berube is something of a genius. Many people are scholars, but few are geniuses. And this genius was a good teacher.
