The teachers may not always be correct, but they always write. Three guides direct this sojourn into the familiar and often strange world of surprises: those between students and teachers, those between pilot and passenger, (or pilot and air traffic controller,) and questions and answers. Subway refers to those ideas that come our way by hearsay.
Quips from the Classroom, the Airport and the Subway embrace the fundamentals of human emotions. The work engenders our basic response to bizarre human exchanges. Its timeless collection of mirthful disagreements undermines the essence of the antics of personal interactions between students and teachers. What student could look back to these seasons without allowing a smile to blossom on his or her face? It is almost as though time stops to encapsulate the moment.
We have questions that remain unanswered because often we have answers to questions not yet asked. Suppose we could formulate a precise answer, then work backwards to find a question that would give rise to it? A teacher makes an observation about one of her students, and beckons him to confront a contradiction. What will the surprised teacher say when the intended response goes awry? Mathematics lends itself so easily to be the background for this paradigm permitting the student to challenge the teacher with puns and gags having a contradictory or supportive role in a concept, as is evidenced in The Teachers Always Write.
Finally, the limited knowledge of the general public about aviation concerns provides uproarious laughter in the cockpit. It enables laymen to see how ridiculous the world can be by altering the nuances of a flyer's jargon or by misinterpreting the sequence of events even to the slightest extent.
Excerpt from The Teachers Always Write
Question-Answers
Question: What makes a radical tree grow?
Answer: Square roots.
Student-Teacher
Student: How you gonna take away a negative number?
Answer: By making a difference
A Teacher’s Favorite Student
Teacher: You are so sharp, you can cut through a topic with your mind.
Student: Teacher, I did all your work
Teacher: Does that mean I don’t have to take out the garbage and change the cat litter tonight?
Editor-Writer
Editor1: What am I going to do, her writing stinks and she has no plot in her story?
Editor 2: Just reject her
Editor 1: She’s my niece
Pilot-Controller
Pilot: Cherokee four-niner-lima departing Islip to Westerly.
Controller: Fly a heading of two-seven-zero, ma’am.
Pilot: But I want to go to Westerly.
Controller: Okay, ma’am, fly two-seven-zero on course.
Pilot: You don’t understand, you’re sending me in the wrong direction. I want to fly to Westerly.
Controller: Ma’am, Westerly is two seven zero on your compass, west.
Pilot: No, its not. It’s east.
Controller: Ma’am, did you want to fly east to Westerly Airport?
Pilot: Yes, sir.
Controller: Fly a heading of zero-niner-zero.
Pilot: Roger.
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