Last Friday, Last Lecture

Today is the last Friday of the semester. Today was my last lecture in plant diversity. It turned out just about right. Changes that took place during the last 65 million years (since the Cretaceous) had to be covered and that's 1.5% of Earth history, and one lecture is 2.2% of a semester, so the Phactor lavished lecture time upon this time period. But it shouldn't be called the Cenozoic; it should be the Anthofloric, but such is the animal bias.
For many different reasons this was a difficult semester, but mostly it was the additional demands being made upon us because we're terribly under staffed. There just never seemed to be enough time, so you do your best for the students, but ultimately they are the ones who get shorted, and no one is confident that our administrators understand all of this. Of course there will be some sad stories when a few students realize that they have run out of time and should have invested more effort all along. But then you have those students who improve all semester and find out that they really like learning; those are our success stories. Wish they were all that way. These are students who finally realize that you don't study for exams, you study to learn, and if you do that exams take care of themselves. That is a lesson too few students learn. You should see the looks when the Phactor tells 1st year majors that they shouldn't study for exams. They never hear the 2nd part.