We’ve all seen someone who, like the high school student in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” is asleep, drooling on his desk. “Anyone? Anyone? … ” the teacher intones while he takes roll. It really doesn’t have to be like that, and though high schools are taking steps to combat the boring nature of some classes, change is taking place at glacial rates.

A few teachers are natural performers, and in their rooms students are engaged, no matter what the subject. One of the most popular literature professors in Columbia’s graduate school taught courses on John Milton, whose poetry is difficult and inaccessible — main ingredients in the recipe for “boring.” Yet Edward Tayler’s classes were always packed; I even went to some lectures a second time the following year, just to be sure I hadn’t missed anything.