Changing Tires
An oft-told tale reveals a legendary teacher’s humor and fairness.
By Henry Petroski
One of Duke’s most celebrated teachers passed away last spring, and his half century in the classroom was recalled warmly in press releases, obituaries, and blogs.
James Bonk was a professor of chemistry, and he was said to have taught first-year chemistry to more than 30,000 students during his career. The course sequence consisting of Chem 11 and Chem 12 was so closely identified with him and his distinctive style that these general chemistry courses had long been referred to collectively as Bonkistry.
Bonk came to Duke at a time when it was still possible to have a very successful career as a teacher without a grant-laden research portfolio, and he rose through the ranks accordingly. He was more than a chemistry teacher, however, serving as a volunteer coach for the men’s varsity tennis team for over two decades and as its academic adviser to the end.
Bonk was infamous for his exams and quizzes, which continued to haunt students long after they had become alumni. His Friday quizzes were especially notorious. One alumnus blamed them for “an entire year of ruined Thursday nights,” because he had to study chemistry instead of beginning a long weekend of partying. Another alum, 20 years after graduation, admitted to still getting nightmares about not being prepared for a Bonk test.
One oft-told anecdote about Professor Bonk’s personality is known as the “flat-tire story.” It involves four students who, instead of studying the weekend before the final exam in Bonkistry, went to Virginia to party. They evidently had a great time, returning to campus just before the Monday morning test. Since they were unprepared, they told Professor Bonk that they had a flat tire on the highway and discovered there was no spare. The delay caused them a great deal of consternation just before the exam, and they asked if they could postpone taking it.
Since the students had done well all semester on their exams and quizzes, and since each was going into the final with a solid A grade, Professor Bonk accepted their excuse and rescheduled the test. If they had indeed had a flat tire while driving back to campus, they should be allowed to recover their wits before sitting down to take the final. But what if they had concocted the story of the flat tire?
When the day to administer the exam arrived, Bonk assigned each of the four students a different room and handed out the test. It consisted of just two questions: The first was relatively easy and was worth 5 points; the second was considered potentially more difficult and was worth 95 points. It asked, in full, “Which tire?”
The story does not need to go any further in demonstrating Professor Bonk’s sense of humor, fairness, and justice. The mere telling of the story was a sufficient word to the wise that excuses might be accepted, but don’t expect them to go unchallenged.
Variations on the flat-tire story have circulated among students at other schools, but often associated with an unnamed instructor of an unnamed course. I like to think that the specificity of the Duke version, and its consistency with the personality of Professor James Bonk and the nature of his Bonkistry course, make it ring true.
When Professor Bonk stepped down from teaching his freshman courses in 2001, Duke’s president presented him with basketball jerseys bearing the chemistry course numbers 11 and 12, signifying that they had been retired. Just as subsequent recruits aren’t expected to fill the jersey of an outstanding player, no other teacher can continue Bonkistry’s legendary run.
Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University. His most recently published books are An Engineer’s Alphabet: Gleanings from the Softer Side of a Profession and To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure.
Photo by Catherine Petroski