I blogged about the Writing What We Teach assignment earlier this semester, so I'm going to focus this post on a topic of recent interest. Let me begin with some stories.
I check my e-mail this morning. One was sent at 10:05 p.m. last night, informing me of the student's impending absence today due to an orthodontist appointment. I dare say that the orthodontist appointment was scheduled prior to 10:00 p.m. last night.
Another e-mail me informs me that the student is already back home for the break, but she will be happy to e-mail her paper to me if that is okay with me.
A third e-mail claims that the student had printer problems, but here is the draft as an attachment. This student does not show up for class just a short while after she sent the e-mail.
Finally, I look out at my students and say, "How about this? Anyone who doesn't care and doesn't want to be here can just leave. If anyone is left, we'll have a conversation." One student asks if there will be a penalty for leaving. I reply, "If you don't care, why should I care?" He packed his things and left.
I tell these stories to illustrate the vast gulf between my students and myself. First of all, I never would schedule an appointment during one of my classes unless it was absolutely unavoidable and necessary. And if I did so, my instructor would be the first person to know, with many apologies, and I would probably turn my paper in early. Second, I would have asked permission to go home early prior to actually going home. Third, there are too many computer labs (including three 24 hour ones) on this campus for a student to not print out his or her paper successfully. I will give this student credit for e-mailing the paper to me, but I suspect that this was her way of skipping class (she has had spotty attendance at best). Fourth, I would never have had the guts to walk out of the classroom, blatantly declaring my lack of interest in a subject to which my instructor has devoted a significant portion of his life.
I have to admire this student for his courage, however rude it may have been. I threw down the gauntlet, fully expecting the entire class to leave, and he picked it up without hesitation.
These recent events tell me the following: my students are resisting the class as much as possible. I think some of this resistance is passive. It was a coincidence, I'm sure, that the student scheduled his orthodontist appointment for class time. But I interpret his actions as resistance based on the fact that he didn't think twice and reschedule and then didn't bother letting me know about his absence until almost literally the eleventh hour. Similarly, the student who went home early probably didn't intend to resist the class; she simply wanted to go home early. But since she didn't ask if it was okay before she left, it's like she went over to a friend's house without her parent's permission and then called to ask if it was okay since she was there already. At best, this is unconscious high school behavior. At worst, it's conscious and pre-planned.
The student getting up and leaving (no one else even moved by the way) is definitely the most active resistance. So far, my response to student resistance (now that I look back) has been akin to pleading. I've almost begged them to be engaged in our class sessions, to take an interest and maybe write something down every now and then if that helps them stay awake. I've told them how I want them to enjoy the class, how it's supposed to be for their benefit, not mine. Nonetheless, there are only a couple students who "open" themselves enough to get much out of our class discussions.
My recent experience combined with the case-study I'm working on for Dr. Weaver's 621 class has prompted me to consider ways in which I can channel student resistance into a positive force. With my case-study, I think I could help my student to "transcend" his assignments, making them fit his interests. While this may seem like common sense to us T.A.s, my case-study student has never fully realized that he can write about anything he wants.
My current students are pretty much locked in for the Research and Position papers, unless they change their topics. I am would like to approach the Memoir and Revision paper assignments in a way that focuses their resistance without them realizing it. Perhaps I could focus the Memoir on a time when they bucked a trend or refused to do something, thus exerting their independence. Maybe the Revision paper could take a satirical approach to a previous paper. Any thoughts, ideas, comments, suggestions?
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4 comments:
He just up and left? I can't even understand that... Something seems to be changing - or maybe it was always that way, and I just never noticed. Until now, most of my interactions were with professors and peers, others who loved learning, not with the kind of student who would just up and leave a class. I'm sorry that happened to you...
I find it interesting that your next move is to make things more positive for the student, Eric - as opposed to brainstorming on ways you might prevent this type of passive/aggressiveness from re-occuring. This is a lesson I learned when I first started teaching classes in the Air Force. There I was, a lowly Airman - assigned to teach officers. My Sgt. told me to remember that rank gets left at the door when you're on the firing range - and that the decision to pass or fail any student rested on my shoulders. Those words meant a lot to me - and authority was never an issue for me again. I'm not advocating being a hard-ass here - it's just that I know how committed you are to teaching and I guess it just makes me angry that your students act like that.
in one of my papers i wrote for dr. weaver's class last semester, i expressed my concern for the commonly-held notion that "a bachelor's degree is now equal to a high school diploma," a notion i've heard even expressed by professors in our department. there is a general disrespect that comes from perceptions like that with freshman who are "forced," let's say, to attend university. i wish i knew a way to make students understand that attending a college class is a privledge, and that missing a class is their problem, and not ours.
I really do feel you, as are we all, dealing with a perception of the university and class we can fathom. We can reason probably state and know why these students resist, but we don’t identify or understand how they came to that line of thinking. But we all take class seriously and college seriously and this is evident by our willing and knowing desire to pursue a masters degree when all that is reasonably required in society is a Bachelor’s. Some of these students, as Jen said, are forced or feel forced to go to college either by their parents or their perception of society. Fewer and fewer students are coming from a background where they are truly the first in their family to attend college but now need to live up to the expectations and standard set by those who have come before them. College isn’t a privilege or right but an extension of high school in some cases but with the option of open resistance.
Using Plato’s cave analogy s a framework, we do need to go to them and bring them to where we are in our perception of the university and academia. Yes, yes, flack will be given for bringing them to a place which we identify as subjectively better, but it may in fact be better. I challenge anyone to find me the person who regrets not going to college or taking it seriously and compare those to the number who regret going to college.
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