Butch’s College Chemistry Class Was Wild!

By: John “Butch” Dale

When I began my studies at Purdue in the mid-1960s, I wanted to become a Social Studies, PE, and Health teacher, but I also had to take “required” math and science courses to graduate and receive my degree. Thanks to the great teachers that I had in high school, I tested out of college Algebra and Trigonometry and received five hours of credit. The only math course left was Calculus for engineering students. I had taken high school calculus and received an “A,” so I wasn’t too worried about college calculus…Wrong! The instructor was a graduate assistant from a foreign country, and I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. The class of approximately 400 students met for 18 weeks that semester. There was only one test…a final exam that constituted the semester grade. I attended class only the first week, and I tried to memorize everything in the calculus book and prayed that I could pass the final exam. I was an “A” student, but when I received a “C,” I was very happy, as the class average was a “D.”

I had taken Chemistry 111 and passed with flying colors, so the only other Chemistry class left to take was Chemistry 112, an extension of the first course. Simple…right? Wrong again. The instructor of Chemistry 112 was a distinguished professor who had been at Purdue for over 30 years.

One the first day in his lecture class, which consisted of about 400-500 students in the large auditorium, I knew that I would likely have no trouble. However, about 30 minutes into his lecture, the professor spotted a student who had fallen asleep, and in a whispery voice told the class to remain quiet. He tiptoed up the steps to where the sleeping student sat…and whopped the student with a foot-long eraser against the side of his head! The stunned student awakened, his face flushed, and the professor looked him straight in the eyes, “You are to NEVER fall asleep in my class again!” No one else did…that’s for sure! At the end of class, he told everyone that in addition to his one weekly lecture, the large class would be broken down into “recitation” classes of about 25-30 students and meet twice each week. He would teach one of those recitation classes, but graduate teaching assistants would teach the rest.

I certainly hoped that I would NOT have the professor for my two weekly recitation classes…Wrong again…he was my instructor! At his first recitation class, he seated us in alphabetical order. I was in the middle of the front row. He proceeded to give his lesson, gave us our reading assignment, and told us, “You ARE to know what I have assigned you by the next class.” The way that he said this made me somewhat nervous.

Two days later, the recitation class met again. The professor stood in front of the first boy in my row and asked a question. The boy gave the INCORRECT answer…and in a split second received a slap to the side of his face! What the heck! Then the professor proceeded to the next boy…Same result! The third student…same result again! I was next in line. The professor stood directly in front of me, looked me in the eyes, and asked a question. I gulped…gave an answer, and prayed that it was correct…and Thank God…it was…I had dodged a big one!

The next boy sitting at my right squirmed in his seat as the professor stood in front of him. I could sense there may be trouble ahead. When he asked this boy a question, the student did not answer at all. The professor started to smack his face. The boy, who was very muscular, blocked the professor’s arm, stood up and faced him nose-to-nose. Everyone in the class watched and waited to see what was going to happen…because it certainly appeared a fight was about to begin. But after 15 seconds of staring at each other, the boy backed down and walked out of the classroom…and never showed up again.

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to stay in that class either…a little too much tension to suit me. I asked my advisor if there was any other science subject that I could take other than Chemistry 112, and he told me that I could take Physics instead. Well, that did it. I dropped out of the Chemistry class, took Physics, and received an “A” at the end of the semester. I found out later than several students had also switched classes to avoid a confrontation with the professor.

This professor taught Chemistry a few more years before retiring. He had taught Chemistry to thousands of Purdue students during his tenure at Purdue.

The students who passed his course KNEW their Chemistry…or else. Of course, in today’s world, he could not use his unusual method of teaching, but those were different times. I will say this…if a student stayed in his recitation class, he became a Chemistry expert for sure…after going through his crazy antics!

– John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 32 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.