EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

It is 1961. In the class sit (approximately)
40 students. 39 are white.
All of them have matriculated
(a word they recently learned)
at Millersville State Teachers College.
The name of the course is
Educational Psychology.

The professor has just been
asked a question that has
caused him anxiety because,
as is apparent to everyone,
he does not know the answer.
He is becoming increasingly agitated.
He is fully aware that the students
are enjoying his agitation
because they do not like him.
He is not a likable person.

He makes a desperate and phony
attempt at self-deprecating humor:
"Look at me. This question has
got me sweating like a nigg..."
He catches himself before pronouncing
the final syllable. Without looking
at the student, the professor says only
two words -- the name of the student
and "sorry." There is a long and
palpitating silence.

            Fifty years later
it is all that anyone in the room
will remember about the professor
and Educational Psychology.