Friday, September 18, 2009

First Time for Everything: A Class That is as Snarky as Me

My Intro to IR class (600 students) continues to impress me. And today, it left me speechless. Literally, I could not speak. I was laughing way too hard. This is hard to explain if you were not there, but I will forever remember the day that the phrase "Kangaroo Milk" caused me significant pain via laughter.

The context was a discussion about who is and who is not a Great Power, with the students recommending Canada and my use of that as an example of "Conceptual Stretching." That is, if Canada is squeezed into that category, then the category loses its analytical value. Continuing a theme of the previous classes, milk came up and then maple syrup, but when I suggested that Canada were a Great Power, then Australia would be one, too. And that led to Kangaroos and then kangaroo milk.

Good times.

For a different take on Canada's greatness (thanks to Jacob Levy for this reference),

No comments: