Quote: A professor's lecture notes go straight to the students' lecture notes, without passing through the brains of either

[Garson O'Toole]

College is a place where a professor's lecture notes go straight to
the students' lecture notes, without passing through the brains of
either.

Above is a popular modern version of a saying that I have been asked
to trace by a Ph.D. candidate who wants to employ it. Of course,
Googling reveals that many people believe that Mark Twain, the
mystical fount if humor, is responsible for this clever jibe.

The earliest instance I located while searching yesterday was printed
in 1927. Evidence of earlier instances would be welcomed.

Cite: 1927, Creative Learning and Teaching by Harry Lloyd Miller Quote
Page 120, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. (HathiTrust)
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b305140
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b305140?urlappend=%3Bseq=140

[Begin excerpt]
In the inimitable phrasing of Slosson, "Lecturing is that mysterious
process by means of which the contents of the note-book of the
professor are transferred through the instrument of the fountain pen
to the note-book of the student without passing through the mind of
either."
[End excerpt]

Google Books assigns a 1922 date to "Proceedings of the ... annual
meeting of the American Association of Junior Colleges, Volumes 1-10".
But the saying is in the 1928 Proceedings.

The QI blog covers two quotations associated with the recently
deceased controversialist Gore Vidal. Additions welcomed.

It Is Not Enough to Succeed; One’s Best Friend Must Fail
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/08/06/succeed-fail/

Death Was a Good Career Move
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/08/04/good-career-move/

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org