Professor So-and-So?

I didn't like it at all when people called me Mr. Brooks. I absolutely hated it.

As a teacher, I didn't want to elevate myself above my students. I wasn't working on disciplining people or trying to make them better people, persay. I just wanted them to learn some material and it is silly to not try and connect with college students on a peer level.

I think putting yourself on the same level enhances the learning experience, because, as a teacher, I didn't have all the answers (or didn't want to reveal that I did), so I wanted people to work out problems not like they were trying to impress me, but just as two people who shared a common interest in the same subject.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've always wondered about that: If I say, "Call me Mike" and you don't, isn't that disrespectful? Isn't it more impolite to disregard how a person wants you to address him than to speak to him in the requested, informal way?

There's nowhere I can't reach.