Odd materials at the university lessons

[Ольга]

Our teacher started to give us odd materials at the English lessons. For example, with jokes about suicide, death, zoofascism, etc.
Is it OK? Should I put up with it?

[tarvos]

Конечно. Такие анекдоты, лично для меня, очень даже бы являлись причинами, по которым бы начала изучать иностранный язык...

And besides, do people not talk about these things? When you read Russian literature, I don't think it's all happy fairies. I mean, Anna Karenina ends in a very tragic way too.

And I read it in Russian in order to learn it. Take it as an academic exercise.

[schlaraffenland]

Our teacher started to give us odd materials at the English lessons. For example, with jokes about suicide, death, zoofascism, etc.
Is it OK? Should I put up with it?

Zoofascism? is it George Orwell's Animal Farm?

[Ольга]

Our teacher started to give us odd materials at the English lessons. For example, with jokes about suicide, death, zoofascism, etc.
Is it OK? Should I put up with it?

Zoofascism? is it George Orwell's Animal Farm?

Nope, it is about sadism and animals.

[aokoye]

Our teacher started to give us odd materials at the English lessons. For example, with jokes about suicide, death, zoofascism, etc.
Is it OK? Should I put up with it?

By jokes about suicide what do you mean? Can you give an example?

[Speakeasy]

Our teacher started to give us odd materials at the English lessons. For example, with jokes about suicide, death, zoofascism, etc. Is it OK? Should I put up with it? ... Zoofascism ...is about sadism and animals.

I have accumulated a personal collection of several thousand textbooks, readers, magazines et cetera dedicated to the teaching of the specific languages per my profile. None of these educational materials contain references to, or vocabulary specific to, either discussing or joking about suicide, death, zoofascism, sadism and animals. I would quite surprised if anyone could produce examples of such materials from a reputable publisher.

Introducing these types of materials into an organised programme of language study is grossly inappropriate and must not be tolerated. Do not accept a justification for the inclusion of this crap based on some half-baked notion of exposure to "culturally relevant issues" or any other bullshit. Your instructor's decision to introduce these materials suggests to me that he has serious psychological issues that require the intervention of a professional. I recommend that you confront him, in private, and demand (demand, not request) that he cease his current practice immediately and that he return to a regular, conventional programme of instruction. If he refuses, there many options that you can exercise.

[aokoye]

Our teacher started to give us odd materials at the English lessons. For example, with jokes about suicide, death, zoofascism, etc. Is it OK? Should I put up with it? ... Zoofascism ...is about sadism and animals.

I have accumulated a personal collection of several thousand textbooks, readers, magazines et cetera dedicated to the teaching of the specific languages per my profile. None of these educational materials contain references to, or vocabulary specific to, either discussing or joking about suicide, death, zoofascism, sadism and animals. I would quite surprised if anyone could produce examples of such materials from a reliable publisher.

Introducing these types of materials into an organised programme of language study is grossly inappropriate and must not be tolerated. Do not accept a justification for the inclusion of this crap based on some half-baked notion of exposure to "culturally relevant issues" or any other bullshit. Your instructor's decision to introduce these materials suggests to me that he has serious psychological issues that require the intervention of a professional. I recommend that you confront him, in private, and demand (demand, not request) that he cease his current practice immediately and that he return to a regular, conventional programme of instruction. If he refuses, there many options that you can exercise.

Joking about death and suicide I agree is generally speaking inappropriate in most if not all circumstances (joking about suicide is something I'd class as inappropriate in all circumstances). Discussing death and suicide is completely and utterly appropriate in a university classroom though. It's not about "culturally relevant issues" so much as it's about real life. I'm honestly shocked that anyone would find discussing issues of life and death as well as psychology inappropriate in a university classroom. If it's appropriate for teaching in one's L1 (which it most certainly is) then it is appropriate to teach in an L2 as well.
Heck I read Death be not Proud for a book report in middle school (which I actually think was a bit of a poor option in terms of an option on a reading list for a 6th grader, it would have been more appropriate in 8th or 9th grade - 14 or 15 years old).
/soap box

But really - I'm curious now, why do you think discussing this is inappropriate (joking about it I can understand).

I swear apparently this day was destine for me to talk about mental health issues - between discussing suicide on Ravelry, writing an email to the host of the Mad World podcast, having therapy (that's the normal part of my day), and now this thread...

[aokoye]

Our teacher started to give us odd materials at the English lessons. For example, with jokes about suicide, death, zoofascism, etc.
Is it OK? Should I put up with it?

I would also argue that the only odd topic to me isn't so much a topic but the word "zoofacism". I'm assuming this teacher meant that to mean animal cruelty. As I'm sure I've made pretty clear, if there are actual jokes about these topics then I wouldn't put up with the jokes. If it's just discussing the topics then yes, you either need to put up with it or not take the class. There's no reason I can think of that your teacher shouldn't be talking about any of those topics in a university context. Joking about them? Not ok. Talking about them - perfectly normal.

edit: in my German lit class we read at least a few books that revolved around someone's eventual death and we read an excerpt of Kafka's letter to his father and talked about the context (his father having been an abusive parent and such...). I also did a report in a different German class on the Bad Aibling train crash (which involved talking about death). I mean these topics you mentioned are all things that come up in the news, in books, online (and not necessarily in "nefarious" places), TV shows, the lives (and deaths) of your friends and family. These are everyday topics.

[Speakeasy]

... I'm honestly shocked that anyone would find discussing issues of life and death as well as psychology inappropriate in a university classroom ... But really - I'm curious now, why do you think discussing this is inappropriate (joking about it I can understand).

I am not in the least surprised either by your reaction or by you're having either misunderstood or misrepresented my position. In fact, I anticipated it.

You may wish to encourage the OP to accept a situation with which his clearly uncomfortable. You can justify it to him in any manner that you please. I have expressed my own opinion on the matter and, if you will excuse me, I feel no obligation to justify it to you or to anyone else. As we as so very far apart on this issue, I believe that discussing our differences would be a truly pointless exercise ... un point, c'est tout!

[aokoye]

... I'm honestly shocked that anyone would find discussing issues of life and death as well as psychology inappropriate in a university classroom ... But really - I'm curious now, why do you think discussing this is inappropriate (joking about it I can understand).

I am not in the least surprised either by your reaction or by you're having either misunderstood or misrepresented my position. In fact, I anticipated it.

You may wish to encourage the OP to accept a situation with which his clearly uncomfortable. You can justify it to him in any manner that you please. I have expressed my own opinion on the matter and, if you will excuse me, I feel no obligation to justify it to you or to anyone else. As we as so very far apart on this issue, I believe that discussing our differences would be a truly pointless exercise ... un point, c'est tout!

I'm glad I could be predictable in my thinking that talking about topical and important issues is important and that I would actually want to understand other people's point of views.