Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for October 05, 2023

Does Calvin intend to spend the rest of his life sitting on the couch watching HBO?

“ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?”

Was the internet a thing in ’93 yet?

6 is the solution.

Preposterous.  Where do they find these teachers?

Once upon a time, there were only three channels of TV, and they were celebrated as a wasteland. So 3 times 0 was 0. Since then there’s been “progress.” Now, on cable, there’s something like 180 channels (if you want to pay for them all…), but they are more than ever a wasteland, and 180 times 0 still equals 0. They’re installing fiber-optic cable in my neighborhood. Is there any chance that will be an improvement, or will it be just more trash faster?

To be entertained today, you’ll need subscriptions to Amazon Prime, Hulu, Paramount+ and others. You’re going to need a good job to afford that!

I don’t know about Calvin, but I quit school and I’ve been bouncing around different jobs for too long now.

I think I may have wasted my future. I’ll keep you guys posted.

Never did manage to get unemployed, and collect gubment cheese, though.

I despise the comment/complaint/“instruction” to teachers, “Make the lessons interesting”. Not everyone finds the same things interesting. Also, it’s not about what the students (or teachers or parents, for that matter) want, but what the students need.

Unfortunately Calvin, “Bugs Bunny” gets ruined in the future.

It’s what EVERYONE wants, Miss Wormwood! Why else are people so attached to their phones?

That’s Cal all over. The easy way or no way.

Yes

Uhh, what’s cable? Also, what’s a phone book? Is that like when you have Facebook on your phone?

When I was in first grade, I hadn’t even seen a color television yet, and there were three stations. Calvin should know that life is boring only to boring people. — Earl Nightingale

In a word, no…..

okay, let me try. Calvin, if there are 8 maggots in the apple and 2 pupate and emerge and fly away, how many maggots are still in the apple?

Miss Wormwood appears to be entertained by food.

Yep… Calvin would fit right in with today’s Gen Z…. LOL

cable…a good wifi connection…streaming services…food and grocery delivery, etc…

cut the cord and stream

cable? that dates it.

Teachers have it really rough today because they are competing with Sesame Street. And an hour of Sesame Street is like a visit to an AD/HD child’s mind. Coincidence? The Count doesn’t think so…

But endless movies gets boring after a while

Sheesh – reading these comments makes me feel like I’m the last person that still has cable TV.

Ennui, the parent of expensive and ruinous vices.

—Ninon de L’Enclos

Probably not, but the question is will you be able to afford it?

Was lately constrained to a tv that only had cable.

100+ channels. Nothing was worth watching.

Managed to hook the hdmi to the laptop and stream stuff I wanted to watch.

Hopefully he is living someplace where he can afford cable.

Cable? His TV has rabbit ears:

https://assets.amuniversal.Com/fab87cd0deb701317193005056a9545d

“Today, class, Calvin will solve the equation 8 – 2 =, or he will be sent to the Principal’s Office. Enthralling enough for you?”

This didn’t age well

He will outgrow his need to watch blood and gore on TV.

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary classroom for 6 weeks. Each business person will be provided with a copy of their school district’s curriculum, and a class of 28 students. Each class will have 5 learning-disabled children, 3 with ADHD, 1 gifted child, and 2 who speak limited English. Three will be labeled as severe behavior problems.Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize or create materials accordingly. They will be required to teach the students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also supervise recess and detention and monitor the hallways and restrooms. In addition they will complete drills for fires, tornadoes, or shooting attacks and assist with fundraisers.They must attend workshops, weekly faculty meetings, school improvement sessions; and curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor those students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the SOL and SAT-9 tests. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show. Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times.The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends after all teaching and preparation tasks are completed, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and the lunch hour will be limited to 30 minutes while supervising students.

The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends after all teaching and preparation tasks are completed, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and the lunch hour will be limited to 30 minutes while supervising students.On days when they do not have recess duty, the business people will be permitted to use the staff restroom during the 15 minutes that another survival candidate is supervising their students. They will also be provided with two 40-minute planning periods per week while their students are having music or art class in the classroom and one 40-minute planning period while their students are having physical education in the gym. If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials at that time.The business people must continually advance their education on their own time, preferably during the summer months, and pay for this advanced training themselves. This can be accomplished either by moonlighting at a second job or marrying someone with a lot of money.

And, of course, as the cartoon shows, they must always keep the lessons “fun”!! If PBS can do it, why can’t the teacher? The fact that “fun” for the intellectually gifted student and for the one who doesn’t actually understand much English may not be the same thing is just one of the issues to be addressed, and the “good” teacher manages it.

Oh, yeah, because everything on cable TV is wall-to-wall entertainment.

I always found the trick was to pretend it was interesting. A lot of subjects do have interesting features once you get past your initial resistance. I would take notes as cartoons or write left-handed to make the boring parts more challenging.

When I was Calvin’s age, we had nuns as teachers. Kids could think what they want (and probably will). But none of us would have dared -or even thought about daring - to say anything like that to them.

Calvin, you could commit massive real estate fraud and spend a lot of time in court. That should be entertaining…

557 channels and ain’t nothing on!

Now you don’t even need cable. The wifi can take care of your entertainment.

Amused at the confident pose by Calvin in the last panel.

When I was a kid, as long as teachers taught what they were supposed to teach, it was my job to pay attention and learn. Sure, it was nice when the teachers made it more interesting, but getting poor grades because a teacher was not entertaining enough was no excuse.