Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 27, 2021

OMG.. A LUANN ARC??

So much for hoping that Luann would get an exciting job, something interesting to us, the readers. Unless the tutoree will be some hunka hunka of burning love. ,,,,, Nahm that won;t happen. We;ll get a college age Shannon, I’d go out on a limb about that but sigh the limb is already occupied.

Drat, but a job’s a job.

It will be the highly allergic girl she worked with in theater, I forget the name.

Picky. Picky,

Yikes! retrospective arc ?

Oh my G, Bernice is being pleasant to Luann! {clutches chest}

A learning lesson here, Luann. Never take a job you know you dislike. You will not do the job well and be a disservice to the students who seek assistance. But of course, I sense a plot schemed by GnK. She will meet somebody.

Luann needs a purpose, like finding a love interest!

Oh Oh. Possible romance alert.

Maybe it will be a potential date.

I hope they’re nice

Has Luann never thought about how a teacher has to, like, actually do work? And how they actually have to grade the assignments they get back? The Evanses just don’t seem to care how readers see the Luann character, but at least she lost her last job in a truly ridiculous and implausible way so there can be a new weird character or two!

Lu relax it’s money.

I’ve always found that Luann the character is best interpreted as someone who’s developmentally challenged, but high functioning. It explains a lot (outside of the laziness, that is—the neurodiverse kids I’ve known are hard workers unlike Luann).

All teachers do homework, Luann. I hope you find that you enjoy it.

Perhaps OT for today, but since we’ve moved on from the Bets-Gunther-Irma-Al arc, and since Bets hasn’t moved in with Gunther, and since Irma’s reaction to the idea did seem to have something to do with that, it’s time to acknowledge that the limb I went out on on December 11 has collapsed, and to offer an obeisance to @BuckarooDave and to anyone else who told me so.

I’m still a little puzzled at the change in Irma’s attitude from 2020/01/16-18, and I’m not entirely sure it’s a “do what you want somewhere else, but not under my roof” thing. I wonder whether G&K got pushback from “moralistic” readers and/or skittish newspaper editors after running those strips in January, 2020.

That last paragraph is not meant to detract from my acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong, BD. I don’t often wear a hat while I’m sitting indoors at my computer, but I just got one out and put it on just so that I could take it off to you.

Are we going to see a new character?

A lot of “Folks” are assuming (Hoping) that Luann tutors Fay.

Possible and a bit, Obvious.

But I’m kinda leaning with those gentle souls that think that it might be someone Lu’s own age.

Like Jack for instance.

Or better yet, another fellow college student.

You know. Some new (handsome, of course) guy that Luann actually becomes interested in.

The mere fact that Luann is starting this “job” off bored would seem to indicate that an unexpected “surprise” is lurking around the corner.

What I’d REALLY like to see is that the “surprise student” is Les, who’s sick of busting suds, and wants a community college degree in order to obtain a better gig. (Hey. Like the guy’s been going to C/C in secret so as to not look uncool)

Why Les?

Oh, no real reason.

Other than there’s nothing better than to start the new year listening to the sounds of certain “folks” tearing their hair out. ;-)

[DUCKS]

The week is starting off with Bernie actually being nice to Luann. Nice turnabout if Luann got the snark over on Bernie this time.

Be a tutor can be a really boring and stressful job. You usually do that because you want to be a teacher, or because you really need money. Spending hours with a child, who usually have no interest or respect for you and barely do their homework, even with you helping them, trying to get them to study. Dealing with parents who are ready to blame you if their children go wrong and usually look for any excuse to pay you less or later… But dunno. Maybe Luann could find herself tutoring a nice child with good parents. Perhaps this situation can lead her to something different, unpredictable and new. Or maybe help her to finally get rid of any desire to become a teacher… Let’s hope for the best.

Already we know that this weeks strips will be a bummer because, out of the hundreds of jobs available — uber, grubhub, warehouse worker, sales clerk, sign twirler. Luann has picked the one job she hates. Way to go GnK, make Luann seem a slacker, an ingrate, a debbie downer. It is time and long past time for Greg to either close down the show or give it to someone other than Karen. Someone who like Luann, the character and can be positive energy to this dreary strip. Hilarity needs to ensue. amd GnK have forgotten how to do that.

“Hey, cheer up, at least the writers are finally paying attention to you!”

Although I suspect they’ll find a way to turn this storyline into one about Bernice or Tiffany so Luann ends up being sidelined again.

And if Luann hates this idea so much, then yeah, teaching might be the wrong profession for her.

So luann is like most teachers eh?

There is an old expression that a good way to learn is to teach, so Luann will need to do homework in order to keep up with or ahead of the students she tutors.

Luann approaches the new job with the usual “enthusiasm”! :D

Luann can be such a self-serving slug. Isn’t it endearing?

Is it just me or has Luann been going backward as far as character development?

Are the students she’s tutoring very dumb? Or is she just super lazy?

Did some tutoring at our community college. Sadly most of the students only wanted tutoring so you would do their homework for them.

She’s practicing for a real job she’ll despise when she’s out of school.

I forgot about this arc. I hope her job turns out better than she now seems to think it will be. And by the time we get back to the Gunther/Betts bit, I hope we see them confronting Bets’ family.

While we were looking at Gunther and Bet’s shenanigans, Luann found another job!

Is she qualified to tutor anyone higher than 4th grade?

Don’t you have to be smart and get good grades to be a tutor? Luann is neither of those, so how much help can she possibly offer? Maybe if it’s kindergarten or grade school kids (grades 1 – 3) it could work. Anyone older than that is going to be smarter than she is.

Luann seems to forget, that all that homework that she would assign, would have to be graded – by her!

What’s she going to tutor, Mall shopping 101.

I do way more homework as a teacher than I ever did as a student….

I’d like to see her try something completely different, like drive a bus (not school) or train to be a welder or mechanic. Toni is the only woman in this strip that hasn’t been pushed into a “traditional” depiction of a woman’s occupation.

Um, when did she get a tutoring job? When did Bernice find out about it? Did I miss a job search arc while Gunther was proposing to Bets for dumb reasons?

She hasn’t got a clue how hard teachers actually work.

Tara! Tara! Tara!

Luann apparently has no idea what a teacher’s job actually requires…

Luann’s previous mentee was called Fay. A shy girl with a helicopter mom that Luann mentored in two arcs; July 2017 & March 2018. She bloomed under Luann’s tutelage and received dating advice and lessons in being truthful with her mom.

She misunderstood. Her parents are actually taking her to get neutered.

(With apologies to Gary Larson). :-)

The paradox of teaching; you have to do the work first in order to show the students how it’s done.

So in other words, she really doesn’t want to be a teacher, she just wants to boss kids around and show off.

First it was half of all new teachers leaving the public schools within the first five years of their careers. Now, it’s parents fed-up with curriculi they don’t agree with pulling their kids out of the public schools. Eventually, it’s going to return to the days of families – or groups of families – hiring private tutors for their kids.

“You took a teaching position, ‘cause you thought it’d be fun, right? Thought you could have weekends off, summer vacations free…. And then you found out it was actually work. And that really bummed you out.” — Carl the Janitor to Vernon the Teacher, The Breakfast Club.

Tutoring is teaching

Someone said most tutorees just want you to do their homework which is true

But a good tutor teaches their charges how to do things and how to them quickly and effectively

So Luann can either tutor up and teach her charge how to get better or take the usual lemme just do it for you way

Maybe her tutoree is Faye that could be promising

Anyway…how the job itself goes is really about Luann more than the kid

I like how she’s like bleh then remember I’m a teacher and think girl you wanna be a teacher how you think kids are at least with tutoring you get to choose who you work with and determine your own wages

Greg has dropped the “teacher” occupation on us over and over. Mentoring, two college level teaching assistant stints, two jobs involving pre- and primary school kids even back to being a library volunteer with Gunther reading stories to small fry. Even her relationship as Aunt to Shannon has had some episodes of “mentoring.”

OK, Greg! We get it. But will she wind up as Fogarty/Phelps types, Zébo type OR (for you trivia fans) Luann’s first college teacher, Mr. Raine.

Finally we’re back with Luann

I remember trying to help some with their homework who just wanted the answers, not how to get them. We frustrated each other.

Everyone mentions the best case scenario.

Worst case would be Steff.

“You all just do it for me, Shug. I’ve got other things on my hands—and other places as well.”

Jack would be an interesting mentee for Luann. There would be several story avenues to this arrangement. Jack has been an underused character lately. Their previous history would be both an advantage and a drawback.

It’s not Quill. Nothing has been shown that he could use tutoring. Except he failed Boyfriend 101. (BTW. Is he still holed up at the Gray’s? Has he ever met Bets…?)

She is in for a mightily rude awakening if she thinks teachers don’t have homework

The strip is finally addressing the obvious flaw in the “Luann will become a teacher” theme, namely that Luann has always been at best a mediocre student who hates schoolwork. She should be a day-care provider, not a teacher. It will be interesting to see just what subject Luann is capable of tutoring someone in. “Oh, algebra! I remember that subject! I got a ‘C’! Or maybe it was a ‘C-’. Anyway, if I tutor you, maybe you can get a ‘C’ in algebra, too!”

I come from a family of teachers and can testify that they probably spend even more time working at home grading tests and homework and preparing lesson plans than they do in the classroom. On paper the hours might look great only working for about 5 hours between 8am and 3pm with summers off but the reality is very different.

It’s still teaching. One on one. That’s the best ratio possible…..

Teaching is the wrong profession if you don’t want homework. Good, dedicated teachers do more homework and planning, than they give. Luann needs to find something to inspire her. We need some uplifting arcs this week. ;-)

I majored in Elementary Education in college—not because I wanted to be a teacher, but because my MOTHER wanted me to (“It’s a marvelous profession for a girl”: BLECCH!!)! And NOBODY said “no” to my mother!!

Well, one semester of student-teaching clinched it for me: NO WAY!!

I did get a degree (with four times on Deans’ List), but to this day I LOATHE the teaching profession!!

A new character to bring a fresh start to the new year? Unfortunately, I doubt it. Bets is the only new character that clicked. The others have all been pretty forgettable, from slutty Stephanie to ghastly dull Nil. However, I am pleased with Punk.

Got news for ya, Lulu: Teachers do more homework than you do. Five periods’ worth of quizzes and reports to grade and comment on, scholastic records to keep, angry parents to assuage, A-hole Principals and Superintendents to disturb whatever time you can call your own. Then comes the huge paycheck. Oh, all this in addition to your family. Better rethink your career intentions, kiddo. If you can draw, consider comic strips. You could manipulate the characters just like you owned them! Wouldn’t that be cool?

We’re FINALLY back to this comic’s namesake. I hope her tutoring job is for a hunky guy!

Luann is simply not cut out to be a teacher. She should go into art or music or theater.

I hope she meets someone interesting.

Luann is reduced to poster child for arrested development at about age 15. Sad. She could be amazing and still fun as a cartoon headliner.

Looks like Greg has his own “calendar” full of “short” months! O<[|;o)

It was either tutor or inside man at the sewer plant. She didn’t have hip waders so she chose tutoring.

Since she’s voiced such dread of the tutoring idea, don’t assume she will actually stick with it and do it. She may decide to do something else, if she can stumble on it.

Um as a tutor, you don’t do the homework, you help the student understand how to do it…just like a teacher.

Maybe it will be Jack. It always could be an adult who needs tuitoring.

I love the foibles of the characters in this strip. It’s what brings me back every day to read it. If the characters were perfect (as no human actually is), the strip would be boring and unrelatable.

I also love how Luann owns her feelings and admits them. Who among us loves every single aspect of our jobs? Who even know what they want to really be when they “grow up”? I’m… let’s see, x 10 by Y carry the 2, divided by 20… not 30 anymore and I still have no idea! (Okay, I want to be Carol Burnett. I want to act and sing and dance and make people laugh and have Bob Mackie design clothes for me!)

Back to Bernice and Luann….yak!

Could never understand way the teacher gave homework. student had one assignment but the teacher had 5 classes with 30 students each so the teacher had 150 exams to look over

“Bored Of Education”

“Luann Gets To Tutor Own Horn”

“♪♪ Assign! Assign! Everywhere Assign!”

“Tutee Frutti”

“Count Your Bleh-sings!”

Job and excited in the same sentence. Not my experience.

tomorrow: career change?

What an inspiring tutor Luann must be!

Bletch!

Yay! A different arc…

Scared she’s going to turn into Mr. Fogey?