Mein Liebling, College Students Are So Retarded

There's this girl in my British Literature class who is so stupid.

I don't mind when people come up with simple discussion questions, because at least they read the damn text we were supposed to read and put some thought into it.

But this girl, takes a line out of the text and takes it completely out of context. No, worse than taking it out of context. Brings in such manure that doesn't have anything to do with the text we're discussing.

And I call her on her bullshit, and she gets mad at me for doing so. And I get mad because she's so stupid she can't see beyond her retardedness. My favourite C.S. prof. described the type of person she is in three points:

They think they're profound when they are not.
They come up with something that sounds profound but it's not.
They don't understand that their profoundness is bullshit, and defend the lack of their profoundness.

Here is an example of what she brings to class, lifted straight from today.

We're reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", and her discussion is "what is the significance of the Round Table in the text?" My first thought is, there isn't any, and page to the one line the Round Table is mentioned: (line 38-39 for those who have the poem)

"Many good knights and gay his guests were there,
Arrayed of the Round Table rightful brothers,"

There's a note in our text for line 39, which states: "According to legend, Merlin made the Round Table after a dispute broke out among Arthur's knights about precedence: it seated one hundred knights. The table described in the poem is not round." (emphasis my own)

And I mention that the Round Table isn't even in the story, that the line is describing who is at this damn party (you could say "Arthur's Knights", but then conceivably Arthur had many more knights at his disposal than those who sat at the Round Table), and the story takes place before the Round Table is even made. She goes over to where I'm seated, points out the line in my book and the note, and says, "There it is. It's right there." And I say, "I know it's right there, but the Round Table isn't even there! There's no significance because it doesn't exist at that point in time!" And then our professor asks me a question about my point, the girl sits down and whispers with her friends and then they giggle. So I assume they're talking about me, but at this point I don't really care. If she wants to stay stupid she can go right ahead.

Another example is her second discussion of "Beowulf"; the lines in question are 1605-1611:

"Meanwhile, the sword
began to wilt into gory icicles
to slather and thaw. It was a wonderful thing,
the way it all melted as ice melts
when the Father eases the fetters off the frost
and unfavels the water-ropes, He who wields power
over time and tide: He is the true Lord."

She tries to pull the idea that God melted the sword, which immediately smells of bullshit to me, because the whole point is that Grendel's mother's blood is so vile and nasty it melts the blade. I don't say anything, because I skimmed this section of the poem. Later, I go home and read lines 1612-1618:

"The Geat captain saw treasure in abundance
but carried no spoils from those quarters
except for the head and the inlaid hilt
embossed with jewels; its blade had melted
and the scrollwork on it burned, so scalding was the blood
of the poisonous fiend who had perished there."

Did she even read "Beowulf"? My first impression is: No.

By the way, I think my friend Dan (who is also in the course) will be taking bets when I finally kick her teeth in.