Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 22, 2018

Oh, what NOW, professor? Miss DeGroot was in the 90 percentile. (Cannot wait to find out Monday).

Sucker, is thy name Luann?

Luann, don’t act hastily. If you do decide to go into teaching. That will look very good on your resume!

Sucker and Luann go together!!!

Luann, opportunity may be knocking. . .

Tara looking very mature and sly in the second panel. Nice drawing. Jack looks, ah, Jack just looks, ……big. To continue this arc would be anti climatic, so time to move on. I think for Christmas, someone should stick Shannon in a big stocking and hang her by the fireplace. I think Piro should catch Bernice under the mistletoe, and Tiffany should take on all comers under the mistletoe.

Tara is either a noble gas or a fart! I’m confused with her.

Are we seeing the start of Luann’s ever-elusive career? Dr. DeGroot?

Luann would have been thrilled/flattered/somewhat scared by the professor’s request if Tara hadn’t already rejected the offer. Will she seize the opportunity? Or will she turn it down because of Tara’s “sucker” remark?

An arc with Shannon or Fay would have been more satisfying…

Okay. So Tara IS that smart, just like I thought. GOOD for Her!

Oh and “Sucker #2…., Uh I MEAN Jack? Don’t go anywhere. If Luann turns the job down, you’re NEXT, Son!

(Either THAT, or You May wind up being Sucker #1’s “assistant” if she TAKES the J.O.B.)

This is so obvious, Luann is the perfect sucker here because she is going to do the right thing for the right reason, she worked hard, is honest, and will get some great experience and self-confidence to boot. Tara is like Henry Hill in Goodfellas, real work is for suckers, why do all that when you can have everything you want, you can make more in one hour than some sucker might make in a year, except that what you did to make it can put you in prison, and can hurt or kill people? In real life he still considers himself smarter, and chaffs under the conditions he has had to live in in witness protection, like an everyday sucker. Whether Luann takes this gig or not is up to Gnk here, but it is a delicious ironic twist revealing a charming, brilliant rogue, compared to a normal , decent, doubtful in her own ability—humble—sucker. Luann should be proud to be a sucker in the long run. Like I said about my fellow student in my high school who had a Mensa level IQ and felt he knew everything better than the rest of us “suckers” he was the one who ended up in his early 20’s with a bullet in his head in an alley on Sunset Strip. Geez this is a morality play!! By the way Jack is a big, good, honest lug, and that is the point about him.

If Tara plans to go do other stuff in a couple of years, this is fine. But. The problem about cruising and relying on aceing tests because you’re bright and can just hoover up stuff in class is that it works great in the lower levels of education, but it doesn’t scale. When you hit the higher stuff, which is MUCH harder, you don’t get given everything in class, you don’t know how to study, and you can really struggle. Happened to to me; happened to my daughter.

Maybe Number 2 to him but always Number 1 in my heart.

Luann, Professor Happy there may just be giving you a key to a door that opens a lot of possibilities for you…

Yes, turning down a paid TA position… cool cool.

And the sucker list is now one person shorter!

This is so not over.

How interesting. He’s saying Luann instead of Miss DeGroot. We all know Luann has Dutch roots somewhere, right?

Check out the smug look in panel 2.

…unless there will be a twist here. Perhaps Luann will be accused of cheating because her answers and Jacks are the same? —-I doubt this will be the story line, but…that certainly would be interesting!

Ah, Mendeleev’s Periodic Table in the 1st frame!!

And the other shoe falls.

I knew a guy like Tara back in college. Drank the night before the calculus exam and aced it. Incredibly smart but marched to his own drum. Not sure what happened to him but smart people like that seldom are “successful” in the world as they don’t fit in, they have to find their own way and make their own success, which is easy because they do march to their own drum.

So 93 was the next top score? All three of them are near the top of the class?

Just as we suspected, Tara is a test acer. There are those who can really take tests well. Not me, I’m afraid. But, I’ve never had trouble putting together a sermon. Have verse, will preach. Though one has to be careful when seeking to “rightly divide the word of truth,” as Paul put it.

Luann’s about to be blinded by science…

That’s good reading, there, professor – you jumped in there like a pro!

It’s been a few years. Have things changed? Don’t they have grad students for this?

She had the next highest score so….

Luann is about to get the same offer. Will she accept or decline? She has expressed interest in being a teacher so this would be an excellent experience for her. But she may let Tara’s scoffing influence her choice. Jack may wind up as the teaching assistant. He had the next highest grade.

DO IT! Science needs more women! They make better scientists anyway.

Sucker comin’ right up !!!

Immediately following Luann’s expression of angst about her future, GnK seem to be pushing her into a teaching profession. And after allowing Jack to make his own decision at the dog park heart-to-heart with Luann. Perhaps Jack ought to respond in kind; since Bernice wasn’t so much help.

P.S. There is nothing that indicates Tara made 100 on the test. Her score could be anywhere between 94 and 99 and still be the “top score.”

P.P.S. Are they no longer called “grades?” Or are “grades” merely the A, B, C, cutoff points.

Maybe Jack will wind up as the TA and Luann will be the veterinarian!?!?!?

Jack’s pose in panel three looks like he just came from ROTC drill.

Doing that job would tell Luann if she really wants teaching by showing her different aspects of the job while giving her a chance to learn some skills.

Jack would also be helped if he took the position. He wants to later apply to veterinary school, which is hard to get into, so needs to have several special things on his application then.

I wonder if the prof might like having two assistants?

So Tara is like that because she’s smart and gets bored easily?

Interesting. To the professor, Tara is “Miss Starr”, but he calls Luann by her first name. Maybe they have a prior (teacher/student) relationship we don’t know about?

I was a T.A. in college and, truthfully, enjoyed the experience of knowing what was going on behind the curtain.

Is she even telling the truth? On the other hand, if she had no need to study or attend classes she is wasting her time and filling a seat a real student could use; she should have challenged the course and moved on.

cue the ominous music

In the event this arc continues, suppose Luann politely declines … Later, the prof may say, “Jack? A word?” I mean … HEY! He was just 1 point less!! :)

The prof just found his mark…

“50 Shades Of Grade”

“Academy ‘A Word’ "

“Stuff And Nonsense”

“I’m Not For Teacher (♪)”

Luann, Tara might want to skip the boring job as a TA, but you could have the opportunity to put TA on your job resume, especially if you end up still want to be a teacher.

UGH. I hate people like Tara.

Go for it, Luann! Don’t miss this opportunity!

Betcha we will see Luann in the professor’s office grading papers about a month later. A new arc on Monday.

Sunday: Knute and Crystal get a “Festivus” pole!

We’ve burned out some heavy story lines in the past few months, which have resulted in even heavier responses. So where do we go now for a little fun around this town? The resurgence of a new, confident Tiffany? Little Fay’s attempt to emulate her idol, Tiffany? Bernice discovering the wonders of Victoria’s Secret? Nancy tells Frank that they are going to be parents again?

“… A word?” Man, when the professor says it like that, you’d think someone was given a death sentence.

Nevertheless, it’s great that Luann is being given this opportunity. Not only will it look great on her resume, but she’ll also get some more teaching experience. Bit by bit, Luann is taking more steps into becoming a teacher.

Makes me wonder how Mr. Fogarty would feel about it…

Tara didn’t seem to have this much ‘tude before. I hope we find out something before a jump to another arc – but we probably won’t.

HAHAHAHAHA

Not buying this. I’m guessing Tara cheated, the prof needs evidence, and he’s now going to set up Luann to catch Tara. On a related note. This prof seems dull (remember the texting?) and a bit of a hard a** if the test is any indication. Choose carefully Luann, working for him may be hellish if he is offering a ta role. If he is setting up Luann to catch Tara, again, choose wisely. My experience with people who have high expectations for themselves is they do for everyone else in there life as well, and you may never be good enough for them. Not someone you want to invite into your life. Tara on the other hand, might just get you to loosen up and move out.

Okay, if Tara is a genius, fine. That in itself is dull. The fact that she poses nude is more interesting. Yep, her T & A is much more intriguing than her IQ.

If Tara were really smart, she’d get a better hair stylist.

Luann got the 2nd highest grade. I hope she doesn’t try to be like Tara. I see this as a test for Luann to see if can ignore ‘peer pressure’ and make a decision that’s best for her.

Tara is too smart (or at least, test-capable) for her own good, and Luann’s. Luann, thy name is “Sucker,” and you are tapped to be TA. Do you accept? —My guess is, yes! This leads to all sorts of Adventures in TAing….

G & K – Please don’t lose Tara. I knew so many like that – lots of them gravitated to the music world. Music lets you feel like you want – while life often punishes you for that.

Well, teaching is an interest of Luann’s; this could be good for her potential career prospects. As for Tara, she feels like the female version of TJ: seemingly shady, oft-underestimated by both her friends and the readers but who is a good person. Of course, there was that whole stealing a TV thing at Moony….

Still not believing Tara is naturally a brainiac. Still have my money on cheater. But now it’s Luann who could benefit from being the TA.

Oopsie!

Will Luann remember that Tara had brights ideas such as: sitting in the VIP section, going to a kegger, missing study group…