Teaching a college class...frustrated...............

RE: Teaching a college class...frustrated.................

Wow--I just got done reading this thread. Very interesting stuff. I'm going to share it with my older kids. I home school and I'm pretty tough on the kids academically speaking. For example, my son just got 100% on his latest pre-algebra assignment, but I'm making him do several problems over because he didn't show all of his work. I also won't accept incomplete or poorly written sentences as answers, even if the factual information is correct--I hand it back. Do it right or do it over. I also enforce deadlines---not using your time wisely? I guess you know how your weekend will be spent.

My son in particular finds my standards frusterating (the girls are much more compliant), but I try to stress that he will be better prepared for college and the job market if we build good habits now.

I think that ultimately, it's parents and not the schools alone that can build a good work ethic and good study habits. The schools can only do so much. We as parents bear the lion's share of the responsibility in this area.

Anyway, thanks for all the perspectives, ladies.

(please don't edit my post for grammatical or spelling errors:p)

Maggie:)
 
RE: Teaching a college class...frustrated.................

I taught high school for 1 academic year almost a decade ago. I loved teaching when I had students actually interested, but that was basically only one or two of the six classes I taught. I was miserable the rest of the time and lost 25 lbs due to stress (so stressed I couldn't eat; usually I'm just stressed enough to eat).

Anyway, I'm sure it's tougher now--they were only just starting to get cell phones back then (and probably only because it was a private school--I know, it's sad that even private school kids ate me for breakfast).

Perhaps current teachers would find this article about Generation Y interesting: http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm

I'm GenX and I think my students at that time were, too (not sure about the year breakdown of these groups)--I was only 23 or so at the time so I wasn't much removed from my students.

[font face="comic sans ms" font color=purple]***Lainie***
fitness blog: http://fitnessfig.blogspot.com
dream blog: http://dreamerfig.blogspot.com
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If you want to give God a good laugh, tell Her your plans.[/f
 
RE: Teaching a college class...frustrated.................

I am a college student and I get frustrated with my classmates. Most stroll in late to the classes; some are even 30 - 45 mins late (My classes are an hour and half long). Others are constantly asking to borrow a piece of paper or pen. I don't understand why they bother to even come to the classes. I don't share my books, my papers or pens with those students. It's not out of meaness, but I just don't feel that they deserve it.

There was one student (call her "Abby") last semester. She was late 45 mins to the first class. As soon as she walked in, she said, " I am not typically like this. I just couldn't figure out the travel time with traffic and everything." The second class, she was 30 mins late. For the rest of the semester, she was at least 15 mins late. When the instructor turns down the lights for video presentations, she would nap. One time she was complaining to the professor that she is not "getting it" and she can't believe she failed the test because she was so confident that she had aced it.

I find that there are many like "Abby" and it's sad.
 
>I think part of the problem has to be attributed to colleges
>that have started considering their students to be
>"customers." That may contribute to the sense of entitlement.
>And lots of parents think that because they are shelling out
>for their child's education, the child has "bought" good
>grades.


I definately see the consumer/marketing mentality among students. I teach at the masters level, and this mindset shows up in students wanting more skill based teaching and less critical reflection. I'm committed to courses 'mattering,' but the resistence to analysis and reflection has made teaching much less enjoyable for me in the last few years.

I'm sounding like one of those crotchety profs -- 'students today just aren't up to where we were...blah, blah'

But, in this case, it's really true......

Actually, there are some younger students who raise great questions ... and those are the ones that keep me going.
 
From another standpoint, there is fierce competition to get into Ivy Leauge schools that now have no tuition...Harvard and Penn if you don't have the cash...and other great schools are upping the ante. I don't think there's a dirth of children without brains or study habits. The private college that I attended now has the highest number of valedictorians per class ever. I would not want to be in class there now...torture. So, instilling good study habits, listening skills, etc. is essential to life, not only school. It's all about what you want out of life. A good education is something that no one can take from you.
 
RE: Teaching a college class...frustrated.................

This REALLY ticks me off. I went into the Navy out of high school because there WAS no money for college. When I got out I went to Ohio State where most of the classes we got to choose from for our Basic Education Requirements had anywhere from 100-300 students in the room. The instructors told us what to do and we did it or we failed. Nobody knew my name and nobody gave a damn whether I did it or not. It was All On ME. If I didn't do the work I didn't pass the class. Period. Because of the stupid college fund that was available to me when I enlisted I had a grand total of $8,000 to get me through four years of school. I had to continually drop out to try to make money and it took me eight years to get a four year degree because I had no help from nobody. My friends all graduated from grad school before I got my bachelor's degree. I even got recalled to active duty (Desert Storm) just as I was about to embark on my final quarter (OSU is on the quarter schedule) of school. I was back home in three months and didn't even attend graduation because, by then, it was so anticlimactic. I majored in art and often painted in the studios well into the night. One Friday night I was stopped at a traffic light along the main drag outside the University, watching the crowds of kids cross. One of them, a girl in a very short, very tight, white mini-skirt, fell down on all-fours, completely sh*tfaced, in the middle of the street and commenced to puke her gutts out. Her friends finally got her up and dragged her out of the street. I just sat in my car thinking 'It must be nice to be blowing Mommy and Daddy's money every Friday night.' Talk about feeling entitled.

My advice: Don't make anything easier for your students. There's no time like the present for helping them to realize they have to work for what they want - if they even care, since it's likely they're not the one's paying. It's not your fault if they don't do the work and dumbing everything down isn't fair to the kids who actually do. They're the one's you should be concerned with. The rest are their parent's problem - until they get sick of wasting their hard-earned dollars.
 
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