Collegiate Times

Superheroes, secret missions and international mysteries — one Virginia Tech professor is finding a creative way to teach his students through a textbook he wrote that reads like a comic book.

John Boyer, geography instructor, wrote a new textbook called “The Plaid Avenger’s World” for his geography 1014 class, World Regions. The book has been met with praise as well as criticism.
One faculty member within the geography department expressed concern over the language in the book, said Larry Hincker, university spokesman.

“The complaint was made to the provosts office and basically that involved the review of the book and the negotiation with the publisher about what we can do with that,” said Bill Carstensen, department chair for geography. “Several people read it and there were two types of issues. One was there were a couple of legal issues (with the usage of the Tech logo) and then there were issues about the appropriateness of the content.”

The legal issue was that the book had the name of the university printed, even thought it was not published by Tech. Hincker said although it is a good thing that Boyer identifies with the university, he also added that the university never reviews faculty publications.

Boyer doesn’t see the controversy in his book and has had no students complain about it to his knowledge.

“I believe this has been much ado about nothing,” Boyer said. “(With) the attention that it has received, the idea that anyone is really offended by cuss words, come on. If you’re going to talk about banning words, there goes Shakespeare, modern literature, theatrical plays…”

Boyer did not intend for others outside of his students to read the textbook.

“This was supposed to be a lecture companion for my class,” Boyer said. “In my wildest dreams, I never thought anyone else would look at this. Anyone else who looks at this is not the target audience. I’m not insane. My intention was never to get publicity; I’m here to educate. The book is an experimental approach for me to get students intrigued into reading more about the topics I talk about in class and to be interested in the wider world, that’s what we are here for, to educate about the world. It was never written with the intention that ultra-conservative people outside of my classroom would be (reading it and) getting their panties in a bunch.”

The idea for the textbook came from a comic book series that Boyer was in the process of writing. He decided to launch the character and “talk the book” in first person for the textbook.

“The idea was it would use real world events, real people, real presidents, real situations and real dates as a teaching tool,” Boyer said.

Boyer believes that in many cases, and especially within his own field, textbooks can be too boring.

“The reason I wrote it this way is because I have never used a textbook because I find them insipidly boring and dry,” Boyer said. “I can’t speak for all fields. Most of the textbooks I have looked for within my field — they very quickly default into encyclopedias. I never used them and I vowed to never write one. But then I started to evolve out this idea about a comic book.”

Originally, the textbook was supposed to be a compilation of different articles, but Boyer soon realized his class dealt with too many issues and that he would have to write it himself. He also explained that the publisher (Kendall Hunt Publishing Company) was concerned.

“This is just such a new way of doing things, (the publisher) had never published a book like it. It was problematic in the way that ‘how do we do this and where do we put cartoon character?’ They were concerned for my safety (about getting in trouble for the new approach)”

Carstensen believes that some people may have seen the content as “over the top,” but he also thinks that people have the right to express themselves any way they want.

“He’s made a book that’s enjoyable to read,” Carstensen said. “Students like it, I like it.

I wouldn’t have written it down that way, but I don’t react to it in a bad way to the point where I didn’t learn anything. I think he’s done a great job in terms of student interest.”

Boyer, who has taught here since 1998, has always been popular with students and ends up adding more to his already full roster, Hincker said.

Hincker has heard many accounts of students and parents who appreciate Boyer’s unorthodox teaching methods.

“There are others that have written news stories that have not been in his class that have been offended by his use of profanity, but have never taken a class from him,” Hincker said. “I have seen unsolicited letters from parents as well as students telling the university how extraordinary Boyer is and has made the class come alive.”

The university has never told Boyer what to do and is not in the censorship business, Carstensen said.

“I am very proud of the university for that,” he said.
Carstensen believes the class is having the opposite effect of the criticisms of stereotypes and racism that the textbook has gathered.

“His class is popular, always overcrowded,” Carstensen said. “It excites freshmen about the world. Americans of all ages don’t care a lot about the rest of the world unless it concerns them. John’s done an incredible job helping people to pay attention to the world. Some of the criticisms are the stereotypes, but students come out of the class caring about these issues. Before this class, they didn’t even know those places existed.”

Boyer’s textbook is similar to the way that Jon Stewarts book, “America: the Book” is, except that there are some differences that should be considered between a regular book and an academic textbook, Carstensen said.

For spring semester 2008, there will be a new edition released that may be more tame, well as a warning placed on the book so people will be aware of the content before purchasing it, Carstensen said.

“It’s an edgy book, that’s a good thing,” Carstensen said.

The textbook has been received well from many of his students.

“John Boyer’s book is the first book I haven’t wasted money on in the entire two and a half years at (Tech),” said Philip Pesce, junior engineer. “I don’t fall asleep in this class, it’s the only time during my week where I learn about what’s going on in the world. I thought that Cashmere was a type of sweater before taking this class.”

One student also appreciates his honesty.

“Boyer tells it like it is, he doesn’t sugar-coat it for us and people respond to that,” said Devon Kenworthy, junior aerospace major.
Boyer’s ultimate goal is to educate his students and is always willing to hear other people’s opinions.

“Fight for global justice,” Boyer said. “I’m here to educate for people to open up their eyes. For all the naysayer’s out there, I am trying
to educate, when is that a problem?”