"Save Humanity - Close University"

            On my way to the first class of the new term on Monday, September 12th, I got off my bike to cross over to the bike stands at the south end of the Sidney Smith building. On the side of St George to which I was crossing there was an old man with a sign that read, “Save Humanity Close University”. As I got to his side of the street he waved and smiled at me. I smiled back because he’d made my day.

            The lecture hall for aesthetics is the same one where I took Canadian Short Stories two years before, though it seems like only last year. Neither of my two courses this year are in unfamiliar places, so it was a relief to not have to scout them out beforehand.

            I opened the door to the lecture hall, and though there was no class going on, two young teacher types were discussing something official. I asked, “Is it okay for me to come in here, or are you busy?” The guy answered, “We’re busy until 13:00.” Since they were only talking at the front of the room, I couldn’t see how anyone sitting in the seats would be a disturbance to whatever business they were engaged in, but maybe they were easily distracted. I sat to wait on a chair in the hallway.

            As my fellow students gradually gathered in groups or alone, to wait for Aesthetics, it was clear that, as usual, there was no one much over twenty among them, if any.

            Once the room opened up, a young woman coming in with her friends wanted them to sit in the front row, but they didn’t want to look like “keeners”. “People who sit in the front get better marks!” she argued.

            The professor came in at least ten minutes before start time and began to set up. He looked a little too young to be officially a professor though, so he may be a PHD student who landed a much better job than that of being a teaching assistant this time around. At the very most, I’d say he’s thirty.

            He was wearing a blue shirt and a tie and jeans. I’ve seen that look before, so it may be a thing, but it seems like an odd choice to me, probably because I despise ties altogether. Wearing a tie with jeans is like being let out of prison and not having to wear an orange jumpsuit but still having to wear an ankle monitor.

            Our instructor projected a slide on the screen that instead of “Aesthetics” as the course was called at the time of enrolment, read “The Philosophy of Art”. It made sense, so I knew that I was still in the right place.

            He paced slowly but nervously behind his podium as he waited to start. I could easily be the teacher’s father and possibly his grandfather. Maybe I am. Just from watching him, I didn’t get the impression that he was going to be a very engaging instructor, but one never knows. I admitted that the ice might break once he was in lecture mode.

            After welcoming us, he explained the title of the course. He said that Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art are the same thing, but the second name is more precise. He promised us from the start that since it would be all about procedure, our first class was going to be boring.

            He outlined the issues that we would be dealing with in the Philosophy of Art: How do we define art? What distinguishes high from low art? What is artistically special about photography or video games? He said that we would not just be answering these questions, but rather evaluating arguments with reasons from which we could choose the best answers.

            We needed two textbooks for this course: The third edition of the Routledge Companion to Aesthetics and the third edition of Aesthetics: a Reader in the Philosophy of the Arts. We also needed something called an iclicker. It’s possible that I was the only student in the dark when I asked, “What is an iclicker, how do I get one and will it cost me money?” As he explained what it was, I remembered that I had observed classes other than my own use them in the past. It’s an electronic voting tool, used to gather statistics and they are collectively tuned to a computer that automatically calculates percentages. I guess it’s probably a good way to take attendance as well to make sure a student is in class. I would buy it at the U of T Bookstore, but he didn’t know how much it would cost. Once we had one we would have to register our device online.

            Every week, except this first week and the two weeks that we have quizzes, there will a writing assignment in which we write a short paragraph that presents and explains the argument of one of the three readings, including an interesting claim and an example from everyday life to explain it.

            Also once a week we have to anonymously peer review our fellow classmates’ paragraphs, giving them a star rating between one and six stars, one star meaning it was total trash.

            We will have to write two essays for this course. The first will be a theoretical essay in which we will engage for or against a theory as in a debate. It could be one or two people’s theories. The second will be an applied essay in which we will apply a theory to the real world. For example, we can argue whether Taylor Swift’s songs are high or low art.

            There will be two short answer quizzes and no exam.  

Upon leaving class I went immediately to the U of T Book Store to inquire about iclickers, the prices and whether or not second hand ones were available. I found out that used ones get snapped up right away, so all they had were new iclickers for $45.00. I considered taking an overdraft on my account to buy one, then I’d end up paying a penalty and it would ultimately cost me more. My grant usually comes through at the end of the first week of classes, so I decided to sacrifice the tiny loss of a percentage of one percent that would result from not having a clicker for one or two classes.

            I went up to Admissions and Awards to make sure I could leave some of my courses unpaid for, since the first half of my grant won’t cover them all and the rest wouldn’t come through till January. The guy behind the counter had to make a special call to the Noah Meltz grant office. It looks like I can relax.