Yeah, I don't think the average kid would be identifying with him very much. Or liking his classes very much, either. But for those couple of kids, maybe two or three every other semester -- the way that I read Spock as a teacher is my attempt to extrapolate out from the way that Uhura had obviously memorized every word of praise that Spock had given her and how she wouldn't fall in love with somebody/give the time of day to anybody who doesn't respect her. Yeah, she's craaaaazy about him, but my takeaway is that Spock is a tough teacher who rarely, rarely praises, but when he does, it lights up your life and makes you glow from the inside because you have goddamn earned it.
And for a lot of these kids, I imagine that he's the first person they've ever met who is both smarter than them (or very nearly) and definitely knows more about what he's teaching. Throw in the fact that Spock is pretty keenly aware of what it means to feel like an outsider inside your own skin, fundamentally different even when you're wildly successful by every objective metric, and.
So yeah, I can see Spock getting a couple prodigiously gifted super-young kids ever other semester or something, and these kids remember him for years and write back to him every now and then with things they think Lieutenant Spock would like (and oh God, I wonder how many of them are dead now, as you pointed out re: Gaila).
But you're right. I think that a lot of the regular kids, even as bright as the ones in Star Trek, would think of him as Snape, part Vulcan.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-05-13 12:43 am (UTC)And for a lot of these kids, I imagine that he's the first person they've ever met who is both smarter than them (or very nearly) and definitely knows more about what he's teaching. Throw in the fact that Spock is pretty keenly aware of what it means to feel like an outsider inside your own skin, fundamentally different even when you're wildly successful by every objective metric, and.
So yeah, I can see Spock getting a couple prodigiously gifted super-young kids ever other semester or something, and these kids remember him for years and write back to him every now and then with things they think Lieutenant Spock would like (and oh God, I wonder how many of them are dead now, as you pointed out re: Gaila).
But you're right. I think that a lot of the regular kids, even as bright as the ones in Star Trek, would think of him as Snape, part Vulcan.