“One form of public speaking not usually recognized as
such is teaching. I’ve had a few experiences in educational situations and
they’ve been worse than flies crawling over my face. I don’t know if it’s me or
what, but having to speak to college students is like having to address a crowd
of work-shirking entitlement robots whose only passion, aside from making
excuses as to why they didn’t do their assignments, is lying in wait, ready to
pounce upon the tiniest of PC infractions. You can’t pay teachers enough to do
what they do. Having been in their shoes, even briefly, has converted me into
an education advocate. Double all teaching salaries now.”— Canadian novelist,
designer, and visual artist Douglas Coupland, “Observations: Getting Off the
Stage,” originally printed in The Financial Times, Dec. 5-6, 2015,
reprinted in Bit Rot: Bit Rot: Stories + Essays (2017)
The image of Douglas Coupland that accompanies this
post was taken Mar. 17, 2022, in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, by the Wylie
Agency of New York City.
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