Correspondence inspired by an afternoon in class

Dear Religion 101 TA,
Hi. I just wanted to send you a little note to let you know I think you're doing a fantastic job with our weekly discussion sessions. I'm sure it must be so hard for you here at Miami, being all liberal and everything. You do a pretty good job handling it though. Not smiling! You are so good at this! It really encourages me to voice my opinion in class.

I bet it's really hard on you when we don't respond well to your condescension. I mean, know I get a lot out of conversations when people ask for my opinion and then tell me I'm wrong before graciously adding, "Well, that's my interpretation, but you can have your own." It makes me feel like you really value what I'm saying. In NO WAY does it make me feel like you think I have no grounds for forming ideas of any kind.

Another thing you utilize well is the We're Being Completely Objective in This Class technique: You say we're having an objective discussion about religions, but don't allow us to go ahead and take the majority opinion. Damn those conservative Christian crazies!, you imply. What monsters! And I never thought about it, but how cruel of those Christians to try to save the souls of these people! Thank you for not allowing me to be indoctrinated by European historical opinion. For example, when we discussed a reading and you wouldn't move on until we had pointed out every single instance of "Christian coloring" of the facts. And here I thought that this reading was written by a Native American himself! Silly me! Thank you for clarifying.

Today was an exceptionally good teaching day for you. Not only did you use the "objectivity" technique, but you also smirked when you handed out those pop quizzes, sending an "I know you don't put any work into this class, you little brats" vibe. I've found that I'm really likely to enjoy a class when the people in charge are bitter about the fact that their course is, indeed, part of the liberal arts program. You couple this bitterness with your disdain for us as students quite nicely. I'm quite impressed!

Keep up the good work!
Loren