Deadwood Gone

In college, I had a professor who had a reputation for being an oddball if not a downright lunatic. The first day of class, there were approximately 35 students in attendance. Dr. Saddmann (not his real name) outlined what we would cover in this six-week summer course. There would be six books, he said, with an essay assigned for each one, and a test on each book. Class discussion would also be a major part of the grade.

As the class convened the second day, I noticed that I seemed to have only about a dozen classmates. Discouraged by the huge assignment load, about two-thirds of the kids had dropped the class. Just as I had expected, Dr. Saddmann came into class looking quite satisfied. He grinned as he looked around the depleted classroom and said, "Now that we've gotten rid of the deadwood, we can get down to business. We will read two books, write one paper, and have an open-book final in this class."