How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

I have a theory that the declining respect students have for teachers in our modern age can mostly be attributed to the extinction of chalkboards in modern classrooms and the increasing reliance on wimpy whiteboards or even projectors.

The difference when entering a classroom with a chalkboard versus a whiteboard is profound. A black chalkboard is vast and commanding. The human eye is drawn to the empty black space by years of evolution, whereas bright whites make one squint and look away from the glare. The black space makes one feel like something amazing (or terrifying) is about to happen.

The loss of respect for a teacher compounds when they rely on technological equipment that frequently fails and exposes them as a tech-illiterate fool, leaving a class staring at a blank blue projection while their idiot teacher grovels and prays to the tech Gods to just make things work.

But when a teacher, no, a professor, lifts a piece of chalk and slams its point to the board it makes an audible sound, loud enough to be detected but quiet enough that conversations will cease to hear what comes next.

And as the teacher writes on the board and manifests symbols onto what was once an empty space, all students will see the teacher as a creator of universes that can be wiped away from existence as easily as they were spawned. And you better write down what these symbols and drawings mean while you can, because a teacher that uses a chalkboard is a teacher that doesn’t give a fuck about giving you a copy of slides or notes for you to review.

The chalkboard is a timeless instrument. It worked 1000 years ago and it will work 1000 years from now. There’s no markers to dry out, no technology to be obsoleted. There is simply the brutal violence of stone upon stone, imparting wisdom for those who seek education. And those who wield the chalk are not “teachers”, but rather Masters of Knowledge, whose profound wisdom is reflected everyday in their choice of presentation.

If I recall correctly, Walter Lewin could also freehand draw perfect circles on the chalkboard

I don't know, I remember people talking about calling them chalkboards instead of blackboards in the UK 25 years ago, back when it was "political correctness gone mad". We don't have green chalkboards at all in the UK. They're all black.

> all students will see the teacher as a creator of universes that can be wiped away from existence as easily as they were spawned. And you better write down what these symbols and drawings mean while you can

Even v.s. a whiteboard, there is something poetic about symbols being wiped away to dust of the earth rather than a vivid blue smudge. And that dust becomes part of the institution. I spent a little time around high level physics students in their natural habitat and there is still a strong feel of it being clung onto tightly by professors and (perhaps LARP-ingly) students dedicated to the culture.

> I have a theory that the declining respect students have for teachers in our modern age can mostly be attributed to the extinction of chalkboards in modern classrooms and the increasing reliance on wimpy whiteboards or even projectors.

I think the transition away also correlates with hermetically seal buildings and using central air everywhere.

"pop" where I grew up in the midwest, but now that I'm in/near Atlanta, it's mostly "coke" regardless of variety.