THE NINTH RULE

Magnify Their Success

IT TAKES JUST ONE CLASS PERIOD TO PASTE THE AVERAGE COLLEGE professor to a wall.

College lectures are performances. Most professors want not just to educate but to entertain. They work stories and jokes into their explanations. They organize their lessons in crescendos that lead to dramatic conclusions. They want to be seen as interesting, funny, and cool.

It’s always been this way. It’s more intense now with social media sites like Rate My Professors, where it’s open season on instructors’ teaching style. More than most of them would admit, professors crave reinforcement. They want class participation. They want to pull their students’ attention away from their smartphones. They want head nods and reactions ...

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