Not Optional

[Kristev]

I loved college. I just couldn't cut it in science or mathematics (my major weakness.) I knew early on I was responsible for my own grades. It's just that I can't do any math beyond the basics. College doesn't like that.

[ShadowBall]

Well sure, homework is optional if you don't mind failing when you don't turn stuff in. It just sucks because maybe a decade or so ago, if a kid did shit-tastic in class, it was his fault and he'd get screamed at. Now, if a kid does bad in any grade level - from kindergarten up to university - Mommy and Daddy charge in like bulls to scream bloody murder at the teacher.

You can only do so much to teach and to motivate, but there will always be at least one student who is just totally worthless and who will not do a fucking thing. Sadly, these days students and parents alike know if they bitch loud and long enough, they can get their own way. It really sucks.

I've been assigned shit I didn't like or want to do either, but I bit my tongue and just did it as best I could because hey, it's homework. Rarely is it fun. That's why it's called work. I'd make a bad teacher because if some lazy little snot came up to me and whined about not wanting to do homework but not liking a failing grade, I'd tell them to go hide under Mommy's dress again and be home-schooled.

This is also why I liked my one professor in undergrad - he was a really funny guy, but he also took no shit from his students. He's thrown people out for mouthing off to him, he forced us to listen to Yanni when no one would participate in the class critique, and he never accepted late work ever. Of course everyone said, "Oh don't be in his class. He's an asshole" because he (gasp) expected his students to turn shit in on time! Oh, the horrors!

[Ironclad Alibi]

My father drilled it into my head from a young age that we all have to do things we don't want to do. That's just how life is.

A co-worker on the first job I had out of college had been assigned a project that he had lobbied against, much perferring another way of doing the job. He was questioned as to why he worked so hard on the project when it wasn't the one he wanted. His explanation was, "I was hired to do the job, not to like it." That was a lesson I have kept in mind ever since.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

My father drilled it into my head from a young age that we all have to do things we don't want to do. That's just how life is. Did it take me most of my school years to actually get that through my head and do the work I was assigned? Yes. Do I carry that lesson with me for the rest of my life now? Yes. Someday, those students might grow up. Maybe. If you're lucky.

Sounds like what I (maybe their dad too) told my stepkids when they were growing up. My stepson isn't doing so well with it, and he's 25...at least he lives with his mother now and not us. My stepdaughter struggles a bit but I think she's trying, and at least she's married and out on her own.

[Teefies2]

When I taught Contracts at a local community college, I bent over backwards to make sure my students got every point coming to them. I laid out the syllabus the first day of class, stressed several times that the tests were the only things that counted towards your grade, and offered extra help when anyone needed it. I also spent the class before each test basically going over the questions and answers (okay I admit, there was always one question on the test that we had not discussed, but was to be found in the reading).

I worked full-time as well as teaching this class, and my job required hours past 5pm - a 10 hour day was not unusual - but I still found the time to prepare for my class as well as grade tests, answer phone calls, etc., oh and an actual life! Once the first two tests had been graded (on a curve, I might add), I even offered extra credit assignments for those who didn't do well on the test(s).

After one semester ended, I got a call from the department head that Student X was appealing her failing grade and what was I gonna do about it? I showed him that she had failed every single test, did not make an appeal for help and did not complete the extra credit assignments that were available. I didn't, however, point out that she only came to class 1 of the 3 days each week we met - I was holding that in reserve ;-) Department head said, well it's on her, then isn't it? I never heard another word from her or the department head.

[ArcticChicken]

"So if you guys aren't doing well that's my fault."

To be fair, if everyone isn't doing well, then it's probably something to do with the teacher. Although not always, I'm thinking of an Earth Science class in HS where every single person failed a test. Except me. I got a 90 something. (Still failed the class, though, never did the homework. Undiagnosed depression is fun!!)

[wynjara]

I always hated Thanksgiving break, from at least middle school on, because we always had a huge project or three that we had to work on so it felt like whatever the exact opposite of a vacation was. We never tried to talk professors out of it, but I do admit we begged to cancel late (5:30pm or later) Wednesday night classes before the long weekend. Most of us had long drives ahead.

[BrenDAnn]

My father drilled it into my head from a young age that we all have to do things we don't want to do. That's just how life is. Did it take me most of my school years to actually get that through my head and do the work I was assigned? Yes. Do I carry that lesson with me for the rest of my life now? Yes. Someday, those students might grow up. Maybe. If you're lucky.

[Sapphire Silk]

When I'm told this, I really want to reply, "Well, enjoy your F, then."

There's a history professor on my campus who is my hero. At the end of one semester, I was over in his department to use a scan tron machine shared by several departments when I noticed a trash can sitting in a hall way. On a sign taped to the wall above the trash can were the words, "Late Papers Here" with an arrow pointing into the trash can.

I was new faculty at the time, with a wishy washy Department Chair. The history prof's example inspired me. I no longer accept late work. I was sick and tired of chasing after students to turn it in, and not being able to evaluate their performance because I didn't have it.

I've had a couple of students fail to turn in papers on time. I've refused to grade them late every time, and you know what? The students who don't turn in their written assignments are the same ones who are flunking the exams and doing horribly in clinic. So I feel no pity or guilt over my stance on this.

Dark Ages 2: The Return of Ignorance

Few things teachers could do in school would make me angrier than busy work. Work they made up just so we would be doing something due to a lack of planning on thier part. But I didnt mind actual assignments unless it was some stupid english assignment in which I was supposed to figure out what the author 'really meant'. Since the work was in english and I spoke english Im pretty sure it was obvious what the author did or didnt mean with spending a week trying to figure out what he/she was really saying about the green grass.

One man's busy work is another man's crucial work. Learning how to analyze the subtle meanings of things like poetry and other forms of literature is the building block of critical thinking.

Snookums ran to mommy and daddy crying about how unfair her teacher was, that she wouldn't help her with extra credit. Parents threatened to so sue if she didn't pass her. District caved and allowed her to take a new test 5 hrs before graduation.

I've heard stories like this before. I bend over backwards to err on the side of the student, but when they just plain don't do the work there is not much I can do. And it sets a TERRIBLE example for other students to make exceptions like this.

A few years ago, a student of mine came into my office with a question. She wanted to know if I had meant what I said about the policies laid out in my syllabus, policies I had discussed with the entire class on Day One.

I told her yes, I had meant it. I knew the other shoe was about to drop.

She then asked why, then, was she being allowed to fail the class by a fraction of a percentage point (if your score was 69.4, it rounded down, not up to a 70, which was passing), when three other students had failed to get passing scores on a Mandatory paper (which was Pass/Fail) even though they'd been given multiple redo's on the paper but were being allowed to pass the course?

It was a fair question. She had a point, no doubt on it. The students in question were being allowed yet another redo after the Christmas break, and being given Incompletes rather than an F for the course.

The student then showed me the Facebook page of one of the students who hadn't done a satisfactory job on her paper (I'm talking middle school work here, folks), where this student is calling me a bitch and every other name under the sun.

We had a big meeting about the issue: me, and four other faculty who team taught the course with me (I was Team Leader for the course). I was very angry; I'd pressed to have the paper made a point graded item instead of pass/fail, and been turned down because "pass fail is the way we've always done it." Yeah, and now look where we are.

We finally opted to allow the students to do oral projects because they just couldn't write (over my objections). Two passed, the one on Facebook who'd called me a bitch still didn't. She appealed her F and won an extension and two months into the following semester finally completed the requirement (graded by someone else just to push her through).

I was pissed. Her peers were pissed. The double standard was clear.

That's when I got real hard ass about grading. All assignments (except clinic) are point based. You turn it in on time or it is not graded. You get what points you get based off the rubric for the assignment. No "do overs." I don't fudge grades to make averages or bell curves look better. It is what it is.

And at the end of the semester, I no longer pull out my hair because hardly anyone flunks by 0.1 percentage points. They either flunk massively, or the pass by a comfortable margin.

It's a very touchy-feely department, so I have to be very careful how I phrase things. As an adjunct, I don't have a lot of freedom.

I hear ya there. That's a big problem in higher education. Department chairs interested in retention rates aren't very sympathetic towards adjuncts whose students are not meeting the standard.

I swear, we seem to be infantilizing people for longer periods. Even post-secondary teachers seem to be expected to be "nice" and "upbeat" no matter what the circumstances are. I'm back in college after a layoff and I actually had one teacher say something to the effect of "So if you guys aren't doing well that's my fault."
<snip>
My chemistry teacher has tossed students out of lab for not having their pre-lab work done or not having their lab coat or not having necessary safety equipment (like goggles) when it's needed. Not surprisingly, some of the students really hate her.

The Master of my old Tae Kwon Do school once told me, "In Korea the teaching philosophy is Master Say, Student Do." He then went on to explain that what this meant was not that the student had to subject himself to blind obedience, but rather that the Master was as responsible for a student's learning as the student was. If both were putting in the required effort, learning should take place and if it didn't the fault was with the master as the superior.

I actually like that line of thinking. It makes me take ownership of my teaching style, which I think makes me a better teacher.

However, I do see what you mean by infantilizing students. I would see my online professors do this when I did my MSN at the Burning Bird University, and I see other professors do this at the online school I'm teaching at now. I can see being a good coach and cheerleader, but the student also has to produce results.

I get the bit about lab coats, though. For my class, students have to wear lab coats to nursing lab or Simulation. No coat, and you are counted absent for the day. Ditto if you don't bring your lab kit.

[Redbeard]

It's a very touchy-feely department, so I have to be very careful how I phrase things. As an adjunct, I don't have a lot of freedom.

Gotcha. Good luck with all that, then.

[chainedbarista]

When I started college (for a computer degree, no fluff courses) at age 30, I was going thru a divorce, and had a six year old. When I got my degree,
I was a single mom, working full time, with a 4.0 average. And that was back
before home computers and internet, all classes were on campus, and though I could write programs at home, I had to spend computer lab time at the college to type them in, run and test, correct, etc. For several classes at a time in different computer languages. Plus the normal homework for
various business courses, etc. I won't say it was easy, and I won't say I
didn't come dangerously close to a nervous breakdown, but I didn't winge or ask to skip assignments.

merriweather's point is very strong; most kids today have no real concept of what hard really is...of course you don't want to do your work; we don't either, but a sensible person will do it because they want to pass and move on. of course you're busy, we are too, we have jobs, households, bills, kids, etc. yet we get our work done, regardless.

stop whining, grow up just a bit and take responsibility for yourselves instead of being terminal, spoiled brats with no real purpose.

*thinks op should be able to clue by four these twits into a touch of reality*

[Pixilated]

I swear, we seem to be infantilizing people for longer periods. Even post-secondary teachers seem to be expected to be "nice" and "upbeat" no matter what the circumstances are. I'm back in college after a layoff and I actually had one teacher say something to the effect of "So if you guys aren't doing well that's my fault."
Um, really?

I'm a few decades past high school but I've been told that no teacher can refuse to accept a high school assignment regardless of how late it is. How does this prepare kids for real life? Some post-secondary teachers have a similar philosophy -- but not all of them. My chemistry teacher has tossed students out of lab for not having their pre-lab work done or not having their lab coat or not having necessary safety equipment (like goggles) when it's needed. Not surprisingly, some of the students really hate her.

[Miss Fatale]

So why not tell them exactly that? Light a fire, let them know that no work = no pass? Or am I ignorant as to the resulting suckatude?

It's a very touchy-feely department, so I have to be very careful how I phrase things. As an adjunct, I don't have a lot of freedom.

[Greenday]

The only time we'd bitch about assignments is when they were ridiculous and screwed over our holidays. Leave my weekends and breaks to me, don't make me waste my life on tedious crap over what precious free time I have.

A lot of people would whine though about simple homework assignments like "Read chapter X and write out definitions of these words". Seriously? Upping your grade won't get easier than this.

[Redbeard]

IWhen I'm told this, I really want to reply, "Well, enjoy your F, then."

So why not tell them exactly that? Light a fire, let them know that no work = no pass? Or am I ignorant as to the resulting suckatude?