283

Teacher
Posted on January 26, 2015 by David M Willis
2015-01-patreon2previewThe Dumbing of Age Patreon gets two bonus strips each month, and I get decide who to focus on for the second one.  I chose Amber! Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna be on vacation for a while.  This strip will continue to update, what with the queue buffered out to May, so you might not even notice me being gone.  Just don't, like, expect prompt email responses or store orders to be shipped.

283 thoughts on “Teacher”

  1. Jen Aside

    “You get just as non-existent pay and blamed by parents for your slacker students’ laziness EITHER WAY.”

    1. Jim

      Yeah, and integrity is for scrubs.

      1. Dreadhawk177

        Apparently regrets are too..

        1. Jim

          You’re so pretty I could kiss you, haha. Wait, I don’t have tenure yet.

        2. jadedcynic

          Wow. All these cynical comments…and they get Ruth smiling evilly as gravs…

        3. Rex Vivat

          I imagine you’re not very familiar with the alternate continuity for this comic? “Act with integrity… no regrets!” is a phrase associated with Ruth.

        4. Lasenna

          Cynical maybe, but Jen Aside’s comments are SPOT ON.

    2. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      Ah yes. The joys of being an adjunct at a university.

      1. Tofusmith

        I thought they were grad students? Adjuncts usually don’t share offices.

        1. s

          they are supposed to be grad students. that said, i’m a grad student in math at a large public university and our adjuncts and post docs all are 3+ to an office. only the tenure track faculty get their own offices. although the adjuncts do at least get to share offices with windows–us grad students get to share the windowless offices.

        2. s

          (also, as an aside, in my experience only grad students are ta’s like jason, adjuncts teach their own classes).

        3. Stewart

          Heck, some of the tenure track professors at my old school shared offices!

        4. Roborat

          Luxury! We had to live in the lake.

        5. LeslieBean4Shizzle

          They are. I was referring to Jen Aside’s comment, which fully describes both the TA (or GA) and adjunct experience.

  2. Ahighfunctioningsociopath

    it’s as if he has tenure already

  3. Insanenoodlyguy

    HATE SEX! NOW! GO!

    1. MM

      Nah, I’m holding out for Penny/Mary.

      1. Doctor_Who

        The combined bongoiness could consume the universe.

        1. Insanenoodlyguy

          That might be too much bongoiness. Too much diversity got us Soggies. Who knows what that singularity would birth *shudder*

        2. Regalli

          Possibly the antichrist. I mean, we do have a Mary involved…

        3. Doctor_Who

          Well, too much diversity caused the Soggies because the universe needed more bland whiteness to compensate. So putting too much bongoiness in one place would presumably cause the opposite of bongoiness to occur.

          What I’m saying is, this could be our ticket to getting Mr. Rogers back. Mary and Penny had better oil up and take one for the team.

        4. Regalli

          … It’d never work, they’d be too spiteful to do it for the rest of us, I’m not even sure Mr. Rogers’s all-consuming love would be able to overcome Mary.

          So who do we need to get together to bring back Dwayne McDuffie?

        5. Paradox

          An orgy involving the producers of the Twilight Saga.

        6. Regalli

          Just that? That’s totally manageable.

          Okay, Jim Henson, then?

        7. Deanatay

          Another orgy, this one with the entire case of Meet The Feebles. Including Steve Jackson.

        8. AustKyzor

          To get Jim Henson back we need a time machine and a common sense-inducing slap

        9. Jay Eff

          You heard the Doctor, ladies!

          We want Mr. Rogers to be our neighbor again!

        10. MM

          As a bonus, I think that would cure all Joyce’s remaining doubts about ladyloving.

        11. Khrene

          Joyce Already loves women!

          Like her tacos she just prefers the ingredients separated out in manageable bites!

        12. Disloyal Subject

          That… Makes a frightening amount of sense. Are vegetarian tacos a thing? Because Joyce was pretty specific about her disinterest in the parts below the neck, and I crave metaphor.

        13. Khrene

          Yes there are!

          They simply have beans and are more likely to have cheese and guac from my experience.

          Now that I think about it, a separated taco is basically a taco salad, but that sounds waaaay more lesbian her than not liking meat…

        14. Romanticide

          Disloyal subject: asking for vegetarian tacos in Mexico might get you mocked by most of population. taking a tortilla and putting inside rice, beans or anything not meat is okay though, and there are a few vegetarian places who call tacos their stuff, still is not a popular thing and most people don’t consider that a genuine taco.

        15. Tacos

          I’m all in favor of that if we can get Mr. Rogers back.

        16. Leorale

          Have you seen the young idealistic Mister Rogers arguing to the senate not to cut his show? It’s inspiring.

          He really was that awesome, sensitive, slow-talking person all the time. <3

        17. Kk

          Or create a rip in the time-space continuum and allow white blobs to rule the universe.

        18. Regalli

          Hey. They MAY rule. No one ever said they WOULD.

        19. Crazy Dina

          Yes, he did say they would. http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=1571

        20. Psyme

          Somebody did.

  4. otusasio451

    Ah, you’ll get the hang of it, man! I should know, I AM a teacher!

  5. Plasma Mongoose

    I was about to post the exact same thing as the hovertext.

    1. lejwocky

      Oh, hi Mar.. I mean Penny

      1. otusasio451

        You are TEARING ME APART, WILLIS!

    2. Cassidy

      What is your gravitar from?

  6. magey

    Penny is so great

    1. Doctor_Who

      I think with Penny, the number of characters in DoA who I think should get their own spinoffs has officially hit double digits.

    2. Kinoko

      Agreed! I don’t know why so many people in the comments above are comparing her to Mary. Mary is willing to break people to get them to conform to her own skewed standards. Penny just seems to give very few fucks. Is that even a bad thing?

      1. Disloyal Subject

        I assumed she was responsible for some shit in the older continuities, and that’s why they made the comparison.
        Considering how much more up-my-alley alien-fighting, gun-toting madness is than slice-of-life, I’m not sure why I haven’t gone back to read those yet.

      2. John

        The other universe’s Penny was a murderous psychopath, possibly the nastiest piece of work in the Walkyverse. She was way, way past Mary’s level of petty evil. At one point she threatened to kill, dismember, and rape Jason, in no particular order.

        I like what little we’ve seen of this Penny, too. She’s snarky. It kind of weirds me out, though, because I’ve still got that other Penny in the back of my head.

  7. Marvelman

    I feel sorry for the guy. He probably thinks Sal is screwing him because she likes him.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Who could resist that accent? ^_^

      1. Emperor Kiva

        I totally could

    2. Yotomoe

      She really screwed him over, huh?

      1. newllend

        2 to 3 ways in one, witch he shouldn’t feel to bad because hey he got laid.

        1. Khrene

          Sometimes lower head happiness isn’t worth the higher head’s ache.

          I mean honestly Mike probably coulda hooked him up for a nickle =/

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          Yeah, but he probably doesn’t want to bang Mike.

        3. KingoHrts

          Or Mike’s Mom.

    3. ChocolateRat

      If he wanted her to like him maybe he should stop making fun of her intelligence.

      Also she did say she had sex with him because he was attractive to her, so she was pretty clear about her feelings.

      1. Carriethedragon

        Was it clear? I mean… she originally expected a grade boost from the sex (which she initiated), but admitted to finding him at least a little attractive, and then later their hate-lust caused another sexual encounter. I wouldn’t call that clear at all.

        1. ChocolateRat

          I mostly meant that she didn’t really imply or hint at interest in a romantic or permanent relationship, which I thought Marvelman was saying Jason might’ve been expecting. She seemed to me to express interest in something shortterm.

        2. Khrene

          Things are waaaay less confusing when hot mixed gals aren’t ripping your clothes off

          Same goes for reverse mermaids.

    4. newllend

      Well what the hell did he expect when when they weren’t having sex they were always at each other necks.

      1. Twilightomens

        I like to imagine they were at each other’s necks when they were having sex as well. Just constant arguing.

        1. barefootbiker

          Behold the fearsome HATE HICKEYS!

  8. Yotomoe

    Sodding is such an awkward sounding word to me. It just hits my ear wrong.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Sod off on the other hand sounds just right! ^_^

      1. Doctor_Who

        Yog Sodoff is my second favorite Great Old One, right after Cfuckyu.

        1. grantimusmaximus

          Ia! Ia! Cfuckyu Fucktagn!

        2. Kaoy

          Fucktagon are my second favorite shape! Right after Sextagons.

        3. Leorale

          +lots for this thread

      2. Yotomoe

        Yeah. No problem with sod off. Just sodding. Just don’t make Sod an adjective.

        1. JustCheetoDust

          Adverb.

        2. Opus the Poet

          Sodly?

        3. fogel

          Llamedos

        4. Disloyal Subject

          Dragon Age desensitized me.
          “By all the holy sodding ancestors! You fight like a bleeding archdemon! What do they teach you up on the surface?!”
          After lines like that, casual use of it seems perfectly natural.

        5. TemplarKnight

          I think it’s because Sod off sounds like sawed-off.

          Note to self, if I ever get a shot gun, I’m calling it my Sod Off Shotgun.
          “But it’s not sawed off!” BLAM “Sod off!”

        6. Gigafreak

          Trivia: a shotgun with its barrel and stock cut short is called a sawn-off shotgun in places that use “sod off,” for clarity reasons. A shotgun doesn’t need to be sawed-off to make someone sod off, as you are already gleefully aware.

    2. Tacos

      I got used to it. Then again I play a lot of Dragon Age and dwarves use it all the time.

    3. Betty Anne

      Right up there with ‘moist,’ AMIRITE? 😀

      1. Yotomoe

        This comment makes me moist. Which is weird cuz I’m a bloke.

        1. JustCheetoDust

          The word “moist” makes me think of the Owlbear in Oglaf.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          Makes me think of Terry Pratchett.

        3. Kryss LaBryn

          Also Dr. Horrible I guess.

        4. Crazy Dina

          Need anything made soggy?
          Oops, made myself sad.

  9. ChocolateRat

    I like Penny.

    1. Opus the Poet

      I suppose someone has to, somewhere.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        There are more of us than you might guess.

      2. Beckett

        For those of us who aren’t familiar with the alternate continuity she seems pretty okay. She hasn’t done much in this comic except be an attractive redhead.

    2. Jen Aside

      Grav Joe likes Penny… with his penis

  10. Wonder Wig

    I just hear the “crazy old woman” voice from Sweeney Todd.

  11. Emperor Kiva

    Whoa, she looks creepy. Dear god her eyes are so fucking green, like with one look could make you start sprouting leaves or something.

    1. Kan

      Agreed! And don’t forget Joyce. Also Ruth, to an extent. Laser eyes, all of them.

    2. Khrene

      #makoeyes

    3. No Name

      I know, right? It’s as if her eyes are actually glowing!

    4. Tacos

      That’d be one hell of a superpower though.

  12. Yotomoe

    “Finally! I’ve been waiting for you to find me for weeks! You’re the worst hide n’ Seek player EVER”

  13. Kk

    Jason, you’re asking Penny this question. What answer do you expect?

  14. GoogerGeiger

    Jason’s a TA, ain’t he? Being a TA isn’t so bad. And honestly, Jason should’ve referred Sal to the university’s student study/help center (provided there is one, but I’d wager there is).

    1. Jim

      This is Indiana U. It’s big and definitely has those resources for student study aids.

    2. Lyssie

      But it’s so much better for his ego if he just writes Sal off as a hopeless idiot who cannot even benefit from his amazing teachering!

      1. Khrene

        Huh. Kinda forgot how much of a douche this guy was.

        Man, you’d think he’d been stroked enough…

        What a bleedin’ wanker…

  15. Crazy Dina

    Yes. He is a bad teacher. But what’s she refering to?

    Also, in that bonus strip – is that Dumbing Of Age/Shortpacked crossover? THAT IS SO CRUEL! (Is there any way to get partron for one month at a time? [No, don’t tell me YET. Tell me AFTER I’ve graduated so I can’t senioritis myself into more trouble!!!!! <Also, any tips for defeating senioritis would be greatly apreciated. Not the unrealistic stuff like “scheduling” and “do it when you get home”, I’ve already proven I can’t just do that. If you’re going to tell me to do those things, you have to tell me how to do them>])

    1. luxlucis

      Aaron’s cameo in that panel just shows that he also is a student at the same university the main cast are attending. He has appeared before actually.
      Dumbing of Age is supposed to be an alternate universe to that of shortpacked/it’s Walky! so don’t expect any actual crossover anytime soon.

      1. Crazy Dina

        Oh. That makes patron slightly less interesting.

    2. segnosaur

      I’ll say the same thing I said in other strips when Jason’s teaching abilities were called into question…

      At this point I don’t think you can make an accurate measure of how good he actually is. Being a teacher is complex… you have to teach to the skills of the majority of students, you have to have tests graded quickly and accurately, you have to be good at preparing and presenting lesson plans. A teacher can do all that, and still do poorly with one or 2 students, not because the teacher is bad, but because they can’t necessarily be all things to all people.

      Sal might have come into the class with very weak math skills. The class might have been set up to assume a certain minimum competency that she didn’t have. It would be like a teacher giving a class in Shakespeare, but finding out one of their students didn’t know how to read… they could be the greatest teacher of Shakespeare ever, but handling the person who doesn’t know their ABCs would be a challenge for anyone.

      Of course, sleeping with a student is questionable if not completely wrong… regardless of who made the first move.

      1. Crazy Dina

        My problem is how he acted when she asked for help. He didn’t look at her work and break down the situation with her, nor did he walk her through a few problems to find her’s and go from there. He failed to consider the possibility of “more than one real solution”, if you will. And he didn’t seem to be listening to her either.

  16. Yumi

    At first I thought Penny was Becky to the extent that I actually read “Penny” as “Becky” in the first panel.

    1. Halloween Jack

      Penny, Becky, Carla and Ruth are going to form the Ginger Squad. You read it here first.

  17. addude

    She’s not wrong.

    1. Jim

      She’s correct in saying that the quality of a teacher doesn’t matter? You might have the potential to get a PhD in bewildering statements if you keep this up.

      1. addude

        I will do my best.

      2. Crazy Dina

        I have a few teachers that can attest to that.

      3. TemplarKnight

        She’s correct in saying the teaching quality of a TA doesn’t matter.

        1. Bagge

          If that was true Sal would have been spared some stress these last few weeks (in universe)

        2. hof1991

          In my experience, a bad calc TA can kill you. That’s why I have a history degree.

        3. fogel

          Untrue: it made a huge difference when I took calc because the prof let his ta teach part of the course: the prof was a great teacher, but the ta was impossible.

  18. dailybrad

    I really dig Penny’s green eyes.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Mee too… Actually, they remind me of another redhead named Penny.
      …really, do non-redheads ever get named Penny?

      1. StClair

        Yes. My mother was brunette.

      2. John

        QC’s Penny is blonde. Although I think the allosaurus might have gotten her.

        1. DSL

          No, she’s standing off to the right. She’s been there all day.

      3. 3oranges

        Inspector Gadget’s niece was blonde.

      4. Gigafreak

        Penelope Pitstop was blonde, does that count?

        Well, I have a cousin named Penny who’s got black hair, if it doesn’t.

  19. Stephen Bierce

    I need to find my fic-ishness of Jason as a referee at a football game.

    1. Stephen Bierce

      Selected parts–from over 11 years ago!

      JASON (as REFEREE): Must I remind you that time is kept only ON THE FIELD? (Shows his stopwatch.) What does this say?

      FPILOT: That you forgot to turn it ON.

      JASON: (Looks.) Oh, cripes! Who nicked the batteries from my watch?! I have to send out to Switzerland for these!

      * * *
      JASON: (Leafs through rulebook…) We have three PCs in limbo and another incommunicado…uh…the ball was just kicked out of bounds…can they get away with that? (Looks at watch.) Oh bugger. Looks like I have to call Halftime! (Blows whistle.)

      * * *

      (The officials and the opposing head coaches are in conference at midfield, then breaks up, with the visiting coach storming off in a huff.)

      JASON: After further review, Nodrog’s Red Herring play STANDS! Automatic corner kick to Home Team! Thirty seconds on the clock, please.

      * * *

      JASON: (Blows whistle.) Two Minute Warning!

      FPILOT: What?

      JASON: We need to put in a station break for the viewers at home. That and Tom needs to get caught up too. Visiting Team gets a throw in; this is an Official’s Time Out.

      (I shrug, then go to the bench. The P.A. system in the stadium begins playing “Doctorin’ The TARDIS”. I look at TOM, who’s got the Home Team’s oxygen mask on.)

      FPILOT: How’re you doing?

      * * *

      JASON: (Blows whistle.) Visiting team has called a Time Out! This is their second; they have one left. Home team still has two Time Outs.

      (The team band and the house organist begin playing “Carry On My Wayward Son”.)

  20. John

    We haven’t seen Penny in so long (more than two years, or last Monday in-comic) that it took me a second to realize that she wasn’t Becky.

    This is actually Penny being nice. She’s going to convince Jason that it doesn’t matter if he’s a bad teacher so that when she tells him that, yes, actually, he’s an awful teacher, he won’t feel as bad about it.

  21. Hoboturtle

    Huh, forgot about Penny.

  22. newllend

    And that’s how every true College instructor thinks

  23. Idon'tcarenomore

    Yes, Jason is not the greatest TA, should’ve done more for Sal than sleep with her.
    Penny I could’ve lived without.
    We got enough bongoiness here with Mary.
    And although he’s one of my favorites, Mike has his own flavor of off-ness, to contribute.
    Think these 2 Mary and Mike are a fine balance ….but then Mary is too universally hated, maybe Penny is needed, she is a pretty good villain.
    Where’s Ninja Rick and Mr. G., who will rule the universe, and his very odd daughter? Hope that make it.
    Interesting to see the new/old arrivals.

    1. Twilightomens

      She’s had like two lines, how do you know she’s a bongo?

      1. kgy121

        Alternate universe versions.

    2. horrorshow88

      But he did! The reason they started sleeping together was due to her frustrations during a long tutoring session. Which wasn’t the first one they’d had, if I remember right. So yeah he may have been a shitty tutor/teacher for her (everyone learns differently) but he did make a go of it.

  24. CanadianShinobi

    WOO CRAZY IRISH LADY IS BACK!

  25. Solenoid

    Penny doesn’t give a shit. 😀

    1. David M Willis

      penny badger don’t care

      1. EvergreenFir

        Can that PLEASE be her canon name?

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          I thought it was Penny Lane.

        2. grantimusmaximus

          As long as it’s not short for MoneyPenny.

        3. Tacos

          Why not Penny Worth?
          >.>
          <.<
          I'll leave.

        4. Gigafreak

          …Wasn’t “Worthington” her actual last name in the other universe?

          Well, some characters have different last names in this one (such as Ruth and Dina), so it might be something different this time.

        5. Jen Aside

          It’s Worthington in this one, too

    2. Yotomoe

      Well she should eat more fiber.

  26. Pantheon the Mantheon

    Is it just me, or is one of the cutest things girls can do is put their pen/pencil/equivalent writing utensil in their mouth as they focus on something? I don’t know why but it’s something that I’ve always thought was adorable.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Seems pretty phallic to me. 😀

    2. Twilightomens

      I do that but it might not be very cute.

      1. Twilightomens

        *naw naw naw
        *slobber slobber

    3. Bagge

      Only if the girls are REBELS

    4. David

      Yeah, nothing beats having a busted ballpen bleed blue all over a cute girl’s mouth’s in- and exterior.

  27. EvergreenFir

    Need more of her! (But why the green eyes again… seems so cliche)

    1. EvergreenFir

      guess they were always green. My mistake

  28. Yotsuyasan

    Huh, hadn’t seen Penny for a while.

    Well, at least I got a fix of my favorite green-eyed red head from DOA elsewhere tonight.

    1. newllend

      Favorite Crazy Green eyed Red head from DoA

  29. newllend

    So Willis isn’t going to be watching the sight tomorrow ?…so we can do what ever we fucking want and said as much shit as we can ?

    1. Twilightomens

      OH MY GOSH!
      What are the forum rules, again?

    2. Safgaftsa

      Now I can finally ask that question about Ethan’s sexual orientation.

      1. Kaoy

        I can finally ask the question that has been plaguing us all for this entire time:

        Just how in the gosh darned heck is a silly name like “Dina” supposed to be pronounced anyway?

        1. Crazy Dina

          Willis INSISTS that it’s Dee-na, but I still stubbornly use the strong I to make it sound like the Dino in Dinosaur. DINA! (Worse, he named her Dina Saurzu, so how could I NOT insist it needs to sound like Dinosaur?)

        2. Safgaftsa

          The name Dina(h) is Hebrew, and dinosaur comes from Greek, then Latin, so Willis’s pronunciation is technically reconcilable with ‘dinosaur’ (if you use the Latin version and not the Greek one, which sounds like the English “eye” pronunciation).

        3. Disloyal Subject

          I thought it was ‘Saruyama,’ not ‘Saurzu…’

        4. Tacos

          It’s Sarazu over at Shortpacked.

        5. No Name

          Her last name was retconned when Willis realized Saruyama wasn’t Japanese.

        6. Blue

          I thought it was the other way around, and she was Sarazu in the other continuity but Saruyama here because he found out that Sarazu wasn’t Japanese.

        7. Jen Aside

          Huh. “Sarazu” turns out to be Peruvian? It DOES have potential Japanese syllables… though they could easily appropriate it much the way other names have been.

        8. Twilightomens

          Holy fuck, he named her Dina Saurzu.

        9. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          As “roaaaaaaaar”.

        10. Bagge

          I can finally preach the gospel of Erika Hendersen

    3. Crazy Dina

      But you have to be careful – he’ll be back!

  30. Totz the Plaid

    Yes! Penny!

    I like her for completely superficial reasons (redhead, green eyes, freckles & British accent) and don’t even care!

    1. StClair

      Same here!

    2. Disloyal Subject

      Her exasperation at y’all, blonde, & clueless over there is a plus too.

    3. Bagge

      I like Penny more than I should consider her only presence in the strip so far has been snarking at Jason for not getting laid enough when he’s trying (and failing) to be a good teacher.

      She reminds me a bit of Daisy.
      Billie: “I have a serious concern about the relationship between myself and my RA that might affect her job performance.”
      Daisy: “First things first. Is your RA hot?”

      Jason: “I have a serious concern about the relationship between myself and my student that might affect my job performance.”
      Penny: “First things first. Your student is hot!!”

      (paraphrasing)

  31. Twilightomens

    Aww, Jason’s having feelings. <3

  32. Crumplepunch

    HAVE WE MENTIONED WE ARE BRITISH TODAY TALLY HO PIP PIP

    1. Leorale

      Waw-kay, Waw-kay. Cheerio!

      1. grantimusmaximus

        Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more, if you get my drift.

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          Anyone care to join me for a nice cuppa and a crumpet?

  33. Charles Phipps

    Penny is my perverse sexual lust in this comics. There, I admit it.

  34. The Wizard

    Go to her Jason, yes go to her and leave Sal alone!

  35. Bliisk

    Yeah go back to Sal!
    Leave Marcie and Malaya for some quality bonding time.

  36. Jim

    Why do I hear Jason and Penny sounding like the Lutece Twins when they talk?

    1. StClair

      oh god, yes.

      (and not just because fakeBrit Jen Hale voice = unf)

  37. Liz

    So many ways this conversation could go.

  38. Gamaran Sepudomyn

    I’m pretty sure Penny thinks Jason is trying to get sympathy-sex.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets it. Though I doubt it was his actual plan.

      1. Jen Aside

        Given their last interaction, I wouldn’t see Jason getting any in the near (or far) future =p

  39. takashid

    gotta love penny. she’s not gonna coddle him

  40. Em

    If someone called me simple and confused, I would NOT be smiling.

    1. ColdOnMars

      I think he was waiting for the positive part.
      I wouldn’t be smiling either though.

  41. Sergei Andropov

    RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

  42. Anywhere

    yaayyy It’s Penny!

    Miss the eyepatch.

  43. Orangey

    Ah man, no one in the UK actually says ‘sodding’. I’ve never heard sodding been said in my life. Sod off – yes, but even that’s kind of a rarity.

    I do like Penny’s character, but I’m never gonna enjoy her accent.

    1. Beige

      come down to the north east lincolnshire area, you’ll get enough of the sodding word

      I just assume she comes from round here

      1. Martin Smith

        I did use to hear ‘sodding’ when I lived round there, but I agree with Orangey that it feels really awkward in that line. Like it wants to be ‘bloody’ instead.

        1. Chris Borgars-Smith

          I was all prepared to say that it was about syntax; that sodding works best as a proper adjective (✓I’ve never seen the sodding documents), but thinking of it, “✓I haven’t sodding finished” sounds fine to me, so maybe it’s just some nuance that’s off about this usage.

          Or we’re just always worked up and ready to jump on usage of British swears :p

  44. a4lbi

    Aw, shoot. Refresh my memory as to who Penny is?

    1. Seth

      You can do that yourself. Just click her tag.

      1. a4lbi

        Oh. Right. Thanks, pal.
        Being overworked does shitty things to you.

    2. insomniac

      Another British grad student. She and Jason had a Thing at one point. It’s over now.

  45. Kris

    Jason it’s college. The students are responsible for thier own education.

    1. Bagge

      Yes, and one of their choices is if they are to put up with bad teachers or if they will change to a class/university that thinks student’s education is more important than TA’s sex lives.

      1. Kris

        Well yeah, he kind of failed in that regard.

      2. Crazy Dina

        One bad teacher… I almost failed the second half of precalc. 🙁 You have no idea how much that shook me.

  46. Beige

    y’know, pennys glowing atomic green eyes always worry me…

  47. jadedcynic

    I like how everyone rails on Jason because “all he did to help Sal was fuck her”. In fact, he’d tried to tutor her, but that went to no avail, seemingly because he’s not a good teacher (yet) – without digging through, I remember him explaining something in terms that Sal still didn’t understand, as well as failing to motivate her try to ‘close the gap’ between what he could explain, and what she could comprehend. Jason may know the subject, but he doesn’t have the ability to pass this knowledge on to others (again, I’ll add “YET” – he’s just a T.A. so far, there’s plenty of time for him to learn some new skills)

    1. DarkoNeko

      and instead, he motivated her to open the gap.

      (sorry)

      But yeah, it’s pretty damn hard to pass knownledge to someone.

    2. Bagge

      Sure, it is hard to become a good teacher. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes talent, it takes support from the university (and given what we seen of Jason’s peers so far I don’t think Indiana is doing a great job educating the teaching staff).

      But how does saying “he is a bad teacher because of reasons” contradict saying “he is a bad teacher”?

      Actually, after Leslie I think Jason has the potential to be the best teacher we have seen so far because he genuinely care and tries. He just has a long way to go, and he REALLY needs to get a better grasp of student-teacher boundaries. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is a bad teacher NOW, and both Sal and Walky, and probably other people too suffer for it.

  48. s

    looking back through the jason tag, i have some thoughts on this.

    on one hand, as a ta (hah, calculus ta in fact), who actually does care about teaching (crazy, i know), i would feel awful if any of my students told me what sal said to jason in the last strip. so i feel for him here.

    on the other hand, his first interaction with sal was noticeably creeping on her, which is really inappropriate, not to mention his later actions (i blame them totally on him even though sal initiated it, since he’s the authority figure). and although he gets a bit of credit for making an effort to tutor her (albeit under some duress), he was a sort of a jerk to her when she didn’t pick up the material.

    so it seems like he’s not a great teacher, and also pretty morally dubious. but who knows, this could be something that inspires him to improve his teaching, if he’s as torn up about it as he seems to be! (also, i know it’s just a comic, but really having sex with your students is not ok even as a ta, hopefully that’ll stop–he at least seems to recognize that it’s wrong). i’ll be interested to see where it goes from here, if willis continues with this thread.

    1. s

      also random side note: as someone who teaches college first years mostly, they really look like children! and i say that as a grad student who’s only 4-5 years older than a lot of them are. which is why i’m personally not interested in the DOA slipshines, and am a bit weirded out by them. not to say that i have a problem with willis writing them (i don’t), or to pretend that college students aren’t having sex in real life–but somehow it would feel weird for me to read them, if that makes any sense.

    2. Bagge

      I agree. Jason is a bad teacher for two reasons.
      – He is snooty and rude and bad at motivating students. He has one way of explaining his material and no plan for how to reach students that doesn’t work for.
      That’s bad, but that’s a question of pedagogic education, experience and time and interest. He obviously cares about teaching (I can’t say as much for Danny and Amber’s computer science teacher), and I think he is taking the first steps now (talking to your peers about it would be an excellent first step if Penny had given any shits).

      – He slept with a student.
      That’s bad enough in itself, but he didn’t make abundantly clear that he wouldn’t grade her, and she had the impression that it was in fact going to help her grades. NononononononoNO. It doesn’t matter how good a teacher you are if your students have the impression that grades are less about knowledge and more about what they can do for you. That would be super bad even if a good teacher like Leslie did it. I think we can be pretty certain he won’t do it again though.

      So, yeah, bad teacher but with the potential to be better.

      1. The_Bionic_Doctor

        YES, so glad the two of you said it: sleeping with a students is ALWAYS wrong, and the authority figure is ALWAYS the guilty part, no matter who initiates what – Jason could have rejected Sal. Grad student/TA here, and it seems so obvious to me!
        Also he straight out told Sal she was “hopeless”… giving up on a student and insulting them, especially when they are obviously trying, how much worse does it get? Jason is a TERRIBLE teacher.

    3. Em

      Yep! Sleeping with students = bad.

      I’ve had crushes on authority figures before, especially ones that either I have been close with, or are just smoking hot. The only one I attempted to do anything about was with my RA. He turned me down very nicely, explaining that while he quite fond of me, he had a girlfriend. And if things were different, and he DIDN’T have a girlfriend, the answer would still be no because of the power imbalance. (also he would’ve gotten fired if he and I do much as shared a kiss and his boss found out. i have some jealous feelings about Ruth and Billie actually, even though I am aware that he and I would have been a bad match for many reasons)

      If you have power over someone, do not date them.

  49. David

    “See Jason, you have not been selected because of your teaching abilities but because you provide by far the best camouflage for that neck-nestling alien life form which happens to be one of the most sentimental, nosy, and generous alumni ever to have graced this college.”

    A neck-hugger, yeah. At some point of time the bow-tie falls off. And everything seems normal. Until he goes into convulsions and grows a cape. And then dykes it out with Amazigirl who has the more experienced cape.

    1. Bagge

      I miss-read that as “neck-tie wearing alien life form”, and everything you said in the first paragraph made awesome sense and I will now firmly believe that there is a certain neck-tie wearing alien life form at campus who happens to be sentimental, nosy and generous.

      1. Bagge

        …or should I say bowtie. They’re cool, you know.

    2. Kryss LaBryn

      …Do you mean “dukes it out”? Because I don’t think Jason can dyke it out with a girl, unless he’s secretly trans. 😛

  50. JessWitt

    A good response to take up for any and all questions.

  51. MiaKitty

    I cannot believe that I had to navigate to this webcomic to feel better after what happened today for QC. Talk about bizarro world.

    Quick, somebody grow a mustache.

    Seriously, though, so relieved this was just Jason and Penny and not any Billie/Ruth angst or something else like that. I mean, I’m sure things are about to get REALLY AWFUL for Jason, but comparatively, this is legitimately relaxing.

    1. Bagge

      Oh Jason… Yes.

      You do have the potential to be a not bad teacher. You even may one day be a good teacher. For the sake of your students and yourself I hope you try to take that path. For a first step I suggest finding someone among your peers who give any fucks on the subject (ie, not Penny. I’m not exactly sure what her deal is, but she seems much more interested in Jason’s sex life).

      1. Bagge

        …That was meant as a new comment.

        1. Bagge

          Re: QC:

          NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

        2. The_Bionic_Doctor

          D’:

        3. Solenoid

          Yeah… that happened… D:

        4. Regalli

          Read Willis’s Twitter. Went “Oh right I’m up to date on that again, I should read it, I’ll be able to read tomorrow’s.”

          REGRETTED EVERYTHING.

        5. sarahlost36

          i wish QC had a comment section, i needed to cry/hug/something in commments over there….sorry this isn’t about Penny’s gorgeous green eyes, or Jason’s self esteem crisis. They just seem so trivial to the drama happening over there.

        6. StClair

          It has a forum instead. (The link is right above the Flattr and Patreon boxes.)
          “WCDT” means “Weekly Comic Discussion Thread” – you can post there.

        7. la6ue mous

          QC has fora!
          https://forums.questionablecontent.net

        8. DarkoNeko

          NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo.

          I have sympathies for Jeph who’ll receive tons of mails begging him to do things about today’s strip tho. But sometimes pain is necessary to advance the story eh ? 😀

        9. sarahlost36

          Sure, how many times has Willis done this to us? Broken things we wanted to be real, smashed loves that we begged to last, but we have a way to respond, i guess i could add to Jeff’s twitter deluge… you do remember her father’s suicide right? and now to have her go out that way… after the things Jeff said about it at the time… ugh i am sorry i will stop now

        10. Plasma Mongoose

          Everyone gotta have a hobby. 😀

        11. Gigafreak

          Wait, this comment system parses emoticons into Smilies? I wonder what other symbol combinations are recognized.

        12. MiaKitty

          That was exactly why I was so very baffled! I’ve not been reading DoA for very long, only a few months, and I already feel like I’ve maxed out a quota for ‘Damn you, Willis!’es. But ‘Damn you, Jacques!’? I’ve been reading QC since roughly ’08? And the Damn you’s are a lot more far and in between over there. The idea of reading DoA to make myself feel BETTER about a QC update is mind-boggling.

          … To keep things on topic since this is DoA’s comment section, let’s hope that Jason has some major epiphany and start actually trying to be a good teacher. Maybe a better person. I don’t necessarily think he’s a bad person, but, he could certainly use some growth and improvement. Though, if Penny’s the person he’s looking towards for this, I’m not sure that’s in the cards. Also, he seems to have a type, yeah? “This chick can’t stand me… BETTER BONE HER.”

      2. MiaKitty

        Yeah, I can’t help but feel like she’s probably not the best source to ask on his teaching ability, given that she’s likely to think the worst of him. That’s the feeling I get, anyway. She doesn’t seem inclined to think positively. She immediately assumed he was going to sleep with Sal because it would make him interesting for once, which isn’t exactly the most positive thought to have.

  52. Willoughby Chase

    It could be Sal who has difficulty with Jason. She initially asked him why her grades weren’t better, then coerced him into sex – at which point Jason should have run a mile I agree – so she has some sort of problem with him as an authority figure so that may have closed down any of her channels towards him.

    OTOH Sal sees Danny as a harmless dork – she clearly doesnt see Dan as a threat or an authority figure – so she’s more open to being taught by him.

    Jason may be a middling to bad teacher but a great mathematician. The two don’t usually come together in one package.

    1. The_Bionic_Doctor

      Jason’s first reaction to Sal asking for help was
      1) hitting on her
      2) after giving tutoring a try for a week, giving up and calling her dumb,
      3) accepting to sleep with her when it was SO unethical (adult authority figure vs. low self-esteem teenage student… guess who should be held responsible?)
      Jason can do better, but so far he is a shitty teacher

      1. Em

        Teachers should never EVER call their students dumb. That is NOT going to help in anyway, and just shows that he has poor impulse control. I mean, that’s also shown by him accepting Sal’s advances. I dislike that some commenters have been saying that that was ALL Sal’s fault. No, Sal should not have done this. But to say that Jason had no say in the matter is ridiculous. The further comics have shown that the sex they had was consensual, so I don’t think Jason is a figure to be pitied. I also think that if he had said no, Sal would’ve respected that. Angrily, yes, but she would’ve.

    2. insomniac

      People frequently don’t acknowledge that teaching is a skill in itself. Knowing a subject really well is a good start, but doesn’t guarantee teaching ability beyond “this is how it’s done; I can do it so you should too.”

  53. Alex C

    Yay vacation!

  54. Shadow12000

    Whelp, here we see another result of how terrible the American Education System is: Teachers not getting what they’re worth, and thus making it another job they hate.

    1. Bagge

      That is a huge problem, and I think that’s the problem with Danny’s and Amber’s teacher.

      If Jason is a Grad student, however, with research as his main job and teaching as a small part, I think the main problem is that he is not motivated and educated in teaching by the university. He clearly wants to be a good teacher but he doesn’t know how.

      1. Solenoid

        Indeed. The fact that research and teaching are often coupled is something of a travesty. Otherwise good researchers are stuffed into lecture halls with little experience teaching and sometimes disdain for that part of the job. Otherwise good educators might not get that far due to a lack of practical knowledge.

      2. Kris

        It doesn’t help that actual unseen teacher of the class doesn’t seem interested in the students or Jason’s improvement as a teacher.

        1. Kris

          A quick archive search shows his names Prof. Rees and he’s been in one strip handing back homework he probably didn’t grade. Teacher of the year right there.

        2. Bagge

          Having TA’s grading homework is in itself not a reason to call someone a bad teacher – teaching hours are limited and that’s what TAs are for after all.

          But judging from Sal’s ad Walky’s grades his teaching does not do them any favors either, and given how Sal direct all her attention to the TA rather than the teacher I doubt he is a wonder of pedagogic talent. Also, Jason’s lack of talent and Penny’s attitude (if she is in the same department, which is likely since they share office), doesn’t speak highly of his teaching interest either.

          So in all, I don’t know enough about him to call him a bad teacher, but I don’t know anything about him that suggests he is a good teacher.

        3. The Wizard

          You can’t blame walky’s grade on the teacher, especially when on many panels walky chooses not to study.

        4. Bagge

          Yeah, you are right that I can’t blame the teacher for the grades, but I can absolutely suspect his teaching is a contributing factor, good or bad. Like I said, I don’t know enough to call him a bad teacher.

          But contrast Gender studies where Walky has a good teacher, and actually has learnt something instead of just doodling dinosaurs.

          Student activation is half of the job for a teacher.

          (And if someone wants to claim that Gender studies are easier than Math – I invite you to consider Gender studies as taught by prof. Rees and the bowtie brigade. “Now, please write a list of pronouns with their application and hand it to my TA.”)

        5. The Wizard

          What exactly did he learn in gender studies? While his teacher is awesome, most changes seen in walky came about through him getting a girlfriend. Its possible that I over looked something here, but we haven’t been shown that walky was taken anything from that class, but a girlfriend. But if I’m overlooking something then please remind me.

        6. The Wizard

          I didn’t notice the link at first, so OK he did pull something from the class, ignore my last reply.

        7. Bagge

          Maaaaaan, I had a snarky answer ready and everything 🙂

        8. The Wizard

          Hey, I wear glasses and on a cellphone, no snarky-ness allowed. 😛

        9. Bagge

          Bummer :p)

    2. sps48

      Cartoon evidence?

  55. Anon123

    I think they switched walkie’s test with Sal’s

  56. Nathan Samson

    So like, are all Pennys exclusively gingers with lime green eyes? Cause I’m thinking of a certain robot named Penny.

    1. WeezerLuvr3030

      No, they can also be blonde girls with pre-laptop computers who solve crimes, like in Inspector Gadget. They can also be chattering claymation girls with strange senses of humour, like in the Penny Cartoons on Pee Wee’s Playhouse.

  57. Spencer

    I’m considering subscribing to the Patreon for the monthly bonus strips. Do I need to donate 5$ for them or is the $1 level enough?

    1. Kk

      $5 is the minimum amount for the bonus strips

      1. David M Willis

        Any amount is good for the bonus strips. $5 is necessary for the early comic updates.

  58. Vree

    Just say ‘fucking’, David. You’re allowed. :p

    PS Nice strip.

    1. Heavensrun

      “Sodding” is a deliberate reminder to the readers that Penny is British.

      Also, not everybody uses the same expletives all the time.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      He uses the word fuck from time to time already.

      1. John

        106 times to date, in fact, the bulk of them by Sal or Billie. Plus a couple dozen partially obscured or truncated uses, and a shirt Carla’s got that says “FUCK HUMANS”. (She doesn’t mean it literally.) Mike has a poster in his room that appears to say “YOU’RE FUCKED”, too, but it hasn’t ever been clearly legible.

        1. Bagge

          That’s impressive statistics. Kinda scarily so.

        2. la6ue mous

          Did you do that?
          I am impressed.

        3. John

          Yeah. A while back I made the unsupported assertion that Billie said “fuck” more than everyone else in the comic put together. (This was before Sal’s wall of “fuck” when the DS battery died.) A few days later I got curious as to whether that was actually true, and I had some time to kill, so I trawled through the archives and tallied everyone up, and have been keeping it up to date since.

          (Billie did actually have the lead over everyone else combined from her confrontation with Sal over the roommate agreement until Naomi’s cluster-F-strike on Family Issues Weekend. Sal grabbed the lead for herself with that F-MIRV over the DS, but Billie’s been clawing her way slowly back up.)

        4. Crazy Dina

          Impressed, but missing Joyce’s 1/2.

        5. Solenoid

          A job half done is a job not done.

        6. John

          Doesn’t count if she doesn’t say the whole word.

          Though I’ve actually been considering doing a count just for Joyce to see exactly how often she says “freakin'” and “friggin'” and “fudge” and so on. It’s a lot. Joyce isn’t in Billie’s league, but she’d be up in the middle of the chart if she didn’t have a filter bowlderizing everything she says before it comes out of her mouth.

    3. David M Willis

      That would be a timely admonishment if you’d gotten here before, like, October 2010: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/training/

    4. Em

      Sodding is actually a term that is the same thing as fucking, if I’m remembering what my friends have said correctly. It comes from the term sodomy which, if you are not aware, is oral or anal sex.

      So yeah. Basically the same thing. Just one sounds awkward to the American ear.

      1. Crazy Dina

        GAH! Did you have to go into definitions? GAH!!!! TMI TMI TMI!!!!!!!!!

        Just one more example of why I DON’T slipshine.

      2. JA

        I just remember it from Dragon Age Origins, where ***SPOILER****during the rescue mission, if you pick Oghren (best. dwarf. ever) as one of the rescuers, while trying to bluff the guards, he’ll say “Ah sod it. Get ’em!”

  59. sethutkc

    Thank goodness, I missed Penny.

  60. Blue

    I’d love to see a crossover where Penny and Jason meet the PhD Comics crowd, saying it now.

    (Partly because Penny’s ‘done with undergrads’ attitude is oddly familiar.)

    1. Airyu

      They should all hang out with Vanessa from Something*Positive. And maybe Erin from Girls With Slingshots will have some pointers from her time as a Masters Student; she probably TA’d too.

  61. Bilal Kalyal

    AND THE PLOT THICKEN

    Amongst other things…huehuehue

  62. Vangeln

    Yes, you are.

  63. Hoboturtle

    “The answer is yes, by the way”

  64. Alexis

    are all the british people evil

    i mean, i know they are in real life, but what about in the comic

    1. Jen Aside

      Just the alternate-dimension ones

      and maybe some of the same-dimension ones

  65. Bagge

    My bet for tomorrow is that Penny is going to say cynical things about education at the university and the work situation for grad students, and I’m going to go into a rant on one tangent on another.

    I like how she sits in almost exactly the same pose as last time we saw her. I don’t know if she just quit smoking or just have made the pen in her mouth a habit, but it looks adorable.

    1. Jen Aside

      you could hedge your bets by pledging $5/month to Willis on Patreon, ohoohooo

  66. Tenn

    “No, Jason. You are a bad teacher’s assistant.”

    1. Bagge

      Ouch, burn.

  67. JA

    Buffered out to May…damn…

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