Doctor Ruth Goes Away

On the retirement of a colleague at the local college.

Doctor Ruth Goes Away

 

By Elton Camp

 

It seems like only yesterday she was hired

I hear that she already wants to be retired

After all her work to get the doctor’s degree,

It seems sort of like a waste of talent to me

 

Without her, concepts of id, ego and superego

How will Northwest students come to know?

They must learn all about operant conditioning

Or an important part of education is missing

 

Know William James, John Dewey, Harvey Carr

Or in the academic world, students can’t go far

How Ivan Pavlov caused his dogs to salivate

To fail to learn would be a most horrible fate

 

Or how one might rear a child in a Skinner Box

Without student sensibilities too much to shock

And how a valid experiment must have a control

So many years of students Doctor Ruth has told

 

So thank you for all the years of service you gave

But it is wise not to become some academic slave

In retirement, new fields you have time to explore

You can do things you didn’t have time for before