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How to deal with sucky students(customers) (Long)

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  • How to deal with sucky students(customers) (Long)

    Every Spring the faculty and staff have to sit through some kind of presentation.

    This year, they brought in a speaker to give a talk on "How to deal with Disruptive Students" in anticipation of the roll out of two new policies and stiffened enforcement of the no tobacco policy. We're getting ready to institute a dress code and a no profanity policy.

    The speaker was actually very good (most of them are dull as dishwater). He's a college lawyer who also teaches poly sci, so he's got experience in the classroom and with all the legal issues.

    He created sub categories of Helicopter Parents.

    The Black Hawk. This is the parent who is "large", intimidating, and obvious. They're the ones who register the students for classes, pick the majors, do all the legwork short of actually showing up and taking the class. These are the ones who are most likely to call up and demand little Johnny's B get moved up to an A because he only "missed it by 3 points."

    The Cobra. These are the stealth helicopter parents. They strike quickly and without warning. "Don't tell little Debbie I called, but" Primarily they just want to be a safety net. However, they can turn into Blackhawks without warning.

    The Gilmore. These are the Helicopter parents who want to be their kid's best friend. They're concerned, vicarious and invested. And in extreme cases, they like to move into their kid's dorm room and buy beer for the other kids in the dorm.

    (This is a real example btw. Administration found out when the other kids reported it . . . because this was just too creepy).

    The speaker actually gave us a lot of really good tips on how to handle disruptive students, most of whom are Millennials. However, after the presentation was over, it became obvious that most of what he said went right over the heads of my colleagues.

    The task force that developed the new dress code and profanity policies held a panel after wards. Some of the faculty got fixated on an example the speaker used regarding his cell phone rules in his class. Our campus policy already forbids cell phones in class yet the faculty kept going on about minutiae about how to create and enforce cell phone rules.

    Guys! Get a grip! It's already against the rules to have cell phones in class. You don't have to create new ones. Just enforce the one in the Student Handbook!

    Then another colleague complains, "How am I supposed to stop and enforce the no smoking rules when I have to park in the North 40, and have less than ten minutes to get to class." Note: all employees are required to enforce the no tobacco policy

    Uhm. Dude, how about you come to campus more than 10 minutes before your class starts. But if that's too hard, how about just be a few seconds late. How long does it really take to say, "This is a no tobacco campus, I need you to put out your cigarette." If they comply, you win! Even if they just light up when you leave, you still made them waste a cigarette.

    Then there was the gal who said, "I don't feel comfortable asking a student for their college ID. It's like invading their personal space."

    OMG, lady. Grow a pair! You're a state employee. You're on state property. You have the authority to politely request their ID, and it says right on it that it is college property and must be surrendered on demand.

    These are the same people who complain tougher policies are a waste of time because no one will enforce them.

    Bonus treat: when the speaker was talking about how to get a disruptive student out of the classroom, he mentioned a video about a student actually getting arrested in class. Apparently, the whole thing started out as an argument over a test question (these kinds of arguments is why I don't do test review in class anymore). She got mad and threw a water bottle at another student. A student behind the disruptive one got video of what happened next with his iPhone.

    Student Arrested in Class
    They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

  • #2
    I'd just like to say the location of the incident referenced via the OP's link hardly comes as a shock to me.

    We sure know how to make 'em here.
    Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

    "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

    Comment


    • #3
      Sounds like a great speaker - I am going to keep the categories of helicopter parents in mind.

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth Panacea View Post
        Then there was the gal who said, "I don't feel comfortable asking a student for their college ID. It's like invading their personal space."

        OMG, lady. Grow a pair! You're a state employee. You're on state property. You have the authority to politely request their ID, and it says right on it that it is college property and must be surrendered on demand.

        These are the same people who complain tougher policies are a waste of time because no one will enforce them.
        Warning:

        Tell me who this woman is. I want to go talk to her. I have a little story to tell her about a beautiful day in May, 1992, when a young man who was not supposed to be on my high school campus showed up toting fully loaded guns and a buttload of ammunition. Two teachers saw him walk from the visitor parking lot to one of the classroom buildings; one of them was coming out of the building as the gunman went in.

        The teachers figured it wasn't their place to question his presence, assuming he was someone another teacher hired for some sort of presentation about the Rodney King riots down in L.A..

        One teacher and four students died that day, numerous others were wounded (including my sister and a close friend of mine) and almost a hundred others (including myself) were held hostage because those teachers wouldn't question someone's presence on their campus.

        It's part of her JOB to keep the campus and the students safe. Bitch needs to get with the program.
        Sorry, my cow died so I don't need your bull

        Comment


        • #5
          EE, the bottom line is this faculty member doesn't want to confront students or anyone else. She is timid and weak. And she is the reason why we've been having problems with non-students on campus.

          I don't get it. I recently intervened when a developmental ed student was in a loud and escalating confrontation with his instructor . . . who to her credit was cool and collected.

          I told him he was too loud and his behavior was unacceptable, and if he couldn't control himself he needed to leave.

          He tried to pull me into the arguement, claiming the instructor accused him of being a drug dealer.

          I told him, "I don't care what this arguement is about. You're the one who is too loud. Leave. Now. Or I will call campus police."

          He left hastily. Never saw him come back.

          If EVERY instructor would get a spine and insist on appropriate behavior from students, then we wouldn't have problems like this.

          /rant
          They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

          Comment


          • #6
            So she tells the cops "You're gonna have to carry me out of here," and then acts all shocked when they move to do just that?

            For someone who talks so much about respect, she sure doesn't know how to give any.

            ^-.-^
            Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth Andara Bledin View Post
              So she tells the cops "You're gonna have to carry me out of here," and then acts all shocked when they move to do just that?

              For someone who talks so much about respect, she sure doesn't know how to give any.

              ^-.-^
              It's Milwaukee. Rapidly approaching Detroit in the lawlessness department.
              Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

              "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

              Comment


              • #8
                checking ID does not stop shooting sprees.

                If you are willing to kill people then the you are also willing to lie about why you are there and/or kill anybody who questions you.

                checking IDs mainly help with theft and other similar crimes.

                Comment


                • #9
                  At my school, you have to swipe your ID to get into a building and THEN you also have to show it to a security guard. Every building, every time. If you want to bring a guest into a building you can- after they write down your ID number and name, their driver's license number, their name, and where you're going. Guests also have to sign out with them when you leave. MEANWHILE there are also security guards driving around the outside of every building (our campus is about 90+ buildings scattered around the city).

                  And nobody's too timid to to ask you what you're doing, either!

                  So yeah. I feel pretty safe actually...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Panacea View Post
                    He created sub categories of Helicopter Parents.

                    The Black Hawk. This is the parent who is "large", intimidating, and obvious. They're the ones who register the students for classes, pick the majors, do all the legwork short of actually showing up and taking the class. These are the ones who are most likely to call up and demand little Johnny's B get moved up to an A because he only "missed it by 3 points."

                    The Cobra. These are the stealth helicopter parents. They strike quickly and without warning. "Don't tell little Debbie I called, but" Primarily they just want to be a safety net. However, they can turn into Blackhawks without warning.

                    The Gilmore. These are the Helicopter parents who want to be their kid's best friend. They're concerned, vicarious and invested. And in extreme cases, they like to move into their kid's dorm room and buy beer for the other kids in the dorm.

                    (This is a real example btw. Administration found out when the other kids reported it . . . because this was just too creepy).

                    The speaker actually gave us a lot of really good tips on how to handle disruptive students, most of whom are Millennials. However, after the presentation was over, it became obvious that most of what he said went right over the heads of my colleagues.
                    They don't stop at just the teachers, sadly. I get them in the bookstore.

                    "But why is little Johnny having to buy 4 books for ONE class? I don't understand." rabblerabble,etc, etc.

                    I am saving these categories and showing them to my coworkers! Sounds like the speaker had a lot of really good things to say, I kind of wish I could have been there, myself.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Goodness gracious me.....a perfectly respectable OP about an SC analog, and of the ten replies, only THREE aren't going directly into Fratching.....all by people who should know better.....I'm actually shocked....and very disappointed.

                      Thread closed.
                      "We guard the souls in heaven; we don't horse-trade them!" Samandrial in Supernatural

                      RIP Plaidman.

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