Adam

At the table across the aisle from where Sharon and I sit in our Economics class every Monday and Wednesday night is a young man by the name of Adam. I don’t know him beyond classroom encounters, but were it not for Adam, the class would not be quite so palatable. Yes, Adam is the salt of the class, so to speak, and I really enjoy listening to what he has to say, whether he makes sense or not.

Now this is the second time Adam is taking this particular class. It seems that Adam evidently did not take the articles we are to write for this class seriously enough the first time (we have to write eight economics-related articles in this class). And unfortunately, those missing articles either gave him a flunking grade, or they gave him a grade he needs to replace. At any rate, he and the instructor have an established relationship, and poor Adam gets picked on a lot–all in good fun, of course.

So beings Adam is familiar with the course content, he now not only writes and submits his articles, but he also gives rousing summaries of them when called upon. And the instructor, in kind, calls him out for a lot of the brash statements Adam makes. He makes Adam back his statements up or asks him why he says what he says. After giving a summary on an economics book which has very unkind things to say about the American economy, this little Instructor-Adam exchange took place:

Instructor: “Why do you say that?”

Adam: “I can’t understand it all, but this guy did, and he told me about it!”

The class, of course, erupted into giggles. I think we all like listening to the banter between the two of them. It is especially fun to listen to Adam when he’s on the defensive. This one came up last night:

Instructor: “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.”

Adam: “I don’t completely understand it either.”

Ahh. Economics! What a wonderfully complicated subject!