from last august: 14th annual emperor awards

got forwarded this link from my dad, a retired teacher. he forwards me MANY things (most of which come from other retired teachers), but this one actually cracked me up.

behold, the 14th annual emperor awards (from 22 august 2007).

it's a guest commentary on the "irascible professor's" website, and it lauds with various awards the groundbreaking research in education presented in 2007, as well as brilliant, novel approaches to teaching found both in the U.S. and around the world. here are a couple of the best snippets -- go to the web page to read the whole thing:

The Paris Hilton Activism Navel Ring celebrates undergraduates who "learned about the homeless experience the hard way." The "hard way" consisted of camping out on the college green for a night in an exercise similar to what was once known as camping out in the backyard for a night. Cardboard boxes were situated on and under tarps "to ward off raindrops," and in a sacrificial effort to replicate the "plight" of the homeless, students were permitted only sleeping bags and their pillows and forced to survive until dawn without "cell phones or other electronics."

and later ...

Outshining even that brilliant suggestion is the nationwide "Walk to School" campaign, in which twenty-first century students take a day to re-enact what twentieth century students used to do every day. Promising to boost academic achievement by enhancing physical fitness, promoters typically find time for walk-to-school activities by canceling academic classes, since naturally no one can be expected to walk to school before school on their own time. Instead, educators devise creative alternatives, like taking a short walk to nowhere on the street in front of the school. To these guardians of the student body, the Academy presents its Distinguished Priorities Cross.