Inspiration

I sat in a car with two of my students today, both of them being quite tired from the end of "dead week" + a few finals/papers. We drove through the forest near Tenant Lake on the slow, meandering road. Despite the near impossibility of the idea, we bantered over whether or not we should drive to the Olympic Peninsula -- a 6-8 hour drive from Whatcom County. Although spending a few hours in the middle of the night there would be titillating, we figured it probably wasn't worth the time, money, or angry parental units. Scratch that. As we enter the Park'n Ride near Western, I proposed going to Western and having fun with math! They sighed they would like to, but they needed some "inspiration" to gather the energy to actually do anything more today. I must admit the tool I imagined to capture their interest and lure them to Bond Hand was cruel and unusual. I used it nonetheless.

"We could go and look through your course catalogs! That would be tons of fun, and it's probably a good thing to do before you get to College."

Laura bounced with excitement, Amy let out a frustrated sigh. I tried to convince her of the Joy of Courses, but Amy cut me off, "it's just sad that I agree with you..."


Laura asked her mom, who reluctantly agreed, dropping a subtle hint that Laura should be at normal parties, not hanging around a college doing something useful on a Friday Night. Nothing like protective parents to ruin good times for seniors in high school...