Professor Tyler Curtain brought his PUPPY to class
And she fell asleep in a backpack
Today, I walked into Tyler Curtain’s Science Fiction/Fantasy/Utopia class and, like any other Friday, I was thoroughly anticipating the weekend. I just wanted to get through my three classes and go back to my room and nap. I was not looking forward to a day of school.
And then it happened.
Professor Curtain opened up his backpack. I only looked up because he said, “let me just get out my laptop” in a suspicious voice.
Inside his book bag was an adorable Beagle puppy.
The 20-person class proceeded to awe over the tiny puppy. Professor Curtain asked us if it was OK if she stayed, or if we’d prefer if she went to his office. I’ve never heard a class so passionately answer a question in unison. “NO, IT’S OK. SHE CAN STAY.”
The puppy’s name is Latke, which is a Yiddish word for “potato pancake.” When we asked why the pup had such an odd name, Professor Curtain responded with his one rule of dog naming: “Never use a human name. It’s too confusing.”
Latke proceeded to be passed around, student by student, until she was tired of being held. She then spent the rest of class exploring the foreign land known as Greenlaw 222 until she was too tired. She decided to sleep on a student’s backpack.
Despite the distraction of having this extremely adorable animal in the classroom, my classmates still seemed to pay attention while we discussed whether other universes exist and whether we think some infinities are bigger than others. Students were genuinely engaged in the topics we were talking about, even with the occasional student taking a Snapchat of Latke.
Moral of the story: every teacher should be encouraged, if not required, to bring a puppy or kitten to class at least once a semester.
That’s a fee I wouldn’t mind seeing on Connect Carolina.