This thread: http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=70807
reminded me of my encounter with either the world's laziest or the world's dumbest student. In fairness to this particular student, I'm going to go with laziest. I've seen some really dumb students, and while this guy was a bit of a mouth-breather...I've seen dumber.
Anyway.
I'm doing my office hours, which I do in our library. Essentially, I have a deal with the other instructors at my school. I'm available to help their students with papers (since I'm the English teacher), and I can send my students to them with help on topic selection and research. So a student who is not one of mine pulls up to my table.
He's in the humanities class, and he needs to do a paper. Hooray! He's decided that for his paper, he's going to write about the movies of Alfred Hitchcock. Double hooray! Good topic, really. I like Hitchcock a lot (my favorite movie ever is North by Northwest), and it's a rich topic. He could just about pick any couple of movies and write about those, and he'll find tons of source material. In fact, this should be a really fun paper to write.
But no. I should have realized. The following is the extremly short version of the 90-minute conversation (no exaggeration) I had with this student.
Dramatis personae
Me: Your ever-lovin' simian English teacher
LSITW: Laziest student in the world
Me: So, Hitchcock is a good choice. You'll find a lot of material to work with.
LSITW: What movies should I write about?
Me: Well, what movies do you want to write about?
LSITW: I don't know. What movies should I use?
Me: Well, you might want to find two or three that have some similarities.
LSITW: Like what?
Me: The 39 Steps and North by Nortwest are both mistaken identity dramas. Vertigo, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train all involve murder plots. Psycho and The Birds are his only movies considered horror. Any of those would be good.
LSITW: Which one should I do?
Me: Whichever one you think is the most interesting.
<<continue for 10 more minutes>>
LSITW: So what sources should I use?
Me: Well, you'll want to look on our databases for articles.
LSITW: Which database should I use?
<<continue for 20 more minutes>>
Me (starting to really lose it now): Look, here's a book of interviews with Hitchcock sitting on the bookshelf.
LSITW: Should I use it?
Me: I'm gonna say you should at least look at it.
LSITW: Which interviews should I read?
Me: I don't know. I haven't read the book.
LSITW (opens book at random): Should I use this one?
Me: I don't know. Maybe you should read it.
<<continue for 60 more minutes>>
You get the idea. The student either could not or would not make any decision regarding this assignment. At one point I almost said "I will not write your paper for you. I will not do your research. You have been pointed in the direction you need to go 4 dozen times and my foot is worn out from kicking you in the ass to get you off the starting line. Go thou and read, and darken my table no longer, you lazy pile of pig guts." But I didn't say this, because I need my job.
I'd love to say this is an exception. It was an extreme example, but not completely unusual.
reminded me of my encounter with either the world's laziest or the world's dumbest student. In fairness to this particular student, I'm going to go with laziest. I've seen some really dumb students, and while this guy was a bit of a mouth-breather...I've seen dumber.
Anyway.
I'm doing my office hours, which I do in our library. Essentially, I have a deal with the other instructors at my school. I'm available to help their students with papers (since I'm the English teacher), and I can send my students to them with help on topic selection and research. So a student who is not one of mine pulls up to my table.
He's in the humanities class, and he needs to do a paper. Hooray! He's decided that for his paper, he's going to write about the movies of Alfred Hitchcock. Double hooray! Good topic, really. I like Hitchcock a lot (my favorite movie ever is North by Northwest), and it's a rich topic. He could just about pick any couple of movies and write about those, and he'll find tons of source material. In fact, this should be a really fun paper to write.
But no. I should have realized. The following is the extremly short version of the 90-minute conversation (no exaggeration) I had with this student.
Dramatis personae
Me: Your ever-lovin' simian English teacher
LSITW: Laziest student in the world
Me: So, Hitchcock is a good choice. You'll find a lot of material to work with.
LSITW: What movies should I write about?
Me: Well, what movies do you want to write about?
LSITW: I don't know. What movies should I use?
Me: Well, you might want to find two or three that have some similarities.
LSITW: Like what?
Me: The 39 Steps and North by Nortwest are both mistaken identity dramas. Vertigo, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train all involve murder plots. Psycho and The Birds are his only movies considered horror. Any of those would be good.
LSITW: Which one should I do?
Me: Whichever one you think is the most interesting.
<<continue for 10 more minutes>>
LSITW: So what sources should I use?
Me: Well, you'll want to look on our databases for articles.
LSITW: Which database should I use?
<<continue for 20 more minutes>>
Me (starting to really lose it now): Look, here's a book of interviews with Hitchcock sitting on the bookshelf.
LSITW: Should I use it?
Me: I'm gonna say you should at least look at it.
LSITW: Which interviews should I read?
Me: I don't know. I haven't read the book.
LSITW (opens book at random): Should I use this one?
Me: I don't know. Maybe you should read it.
<<continue for 60 more minutes>>
You get the idea. The student either could not or would not make any decision regarding this assignment. At one point I almost said "I will not write your paper for you. I will not do your research. You have been pointed in the direction you need to go 4 dozen times and my foot is worn out from kicking you in the ass to get you off the starting line. Go thou and read, and darken my table no longer, you lazy pile of pig guts." But I didn't say this, because I need my job.
I'd love to say this is an exception. It was an extreme example, but not completely unusual.
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