What the hell is wrong with my students?
Student: Why the hell do I have to take two English courses? What the fuck do I need them for if I am going to be a computer tech? Who cares where I put a semicolon?
Seeking Solace: It is important to your future employer that you can communicate using proper English. Writing is essential in almost every career path.
What I wanted to say:
Listen, dumb ass. You can’t even speak proper English, so maybe you should just shut up and take the courses so you can actually do something with your life.
Student: Yeah, well I just think that I am wasting my time taking courses that don’t matter.
Seeking Solace: These courses do matter. They are just one link in the chain. You may not understand now, but these courses will be helpful to you down the road.
What I wanted to say:
If you feel that you are wasting your time, then stop wasting my time and go someplace else.
Wouldn’t be great if we could say what we really wanted???
About Me
- Seeking Solace
- I am a college professor who is fumbling through the chaos of academia, rheumatoid arthritis, working on my PhD and just being a 40 something woman. I used to be a lawyer, which made me a snarky little person. I have a wonderful Husband and a German Shepherd named Junior. They help keep me sane.
Paws to Consider
My Sister's Keeper
9 comments:
Oh. My. Word. I just can't believe some students. It's terrible that they even think that way about their courses, but the fact that they actually TELL their professor what they think is even worse!
Oh yes, how nice would it be to say what we'd really like at times like these? I always love reading blog posts with both the real and fantasy responses!
I might have actually said that the first one seems to be demonstrating the need for the the courses. As for the second, I'd remind them that the average worker these days changes careers several times, and you never know when those "useless" classes will be helpful.
Whenever they give me attitude, I remind them that this is college and it is voluntary. I then tell them that they really don't have to be there and if they really think what they are doing is a waste of time they should withdraw.
In the past, I've told them that if they don't like the curriculum, they need to get degrees in their field, get a teaching job and change it -- or at least have this discussion with the people in charge of their program, I'm sure they'll welcome the input (not... but, it is also not my problem...).
I am a MATHIE and am in a TECH job where most of what I do is WRITING - business requirements, functional specs, transformation rules, not to mention the million or so emails I generate making sure everyone is on the same page at any given time.
I'd have been tempted to shout out a good "Blow it out your ass and go back to the McDonalds Frymaker from whence you came"
But - that's just me
Any field requires clear and concise communication. Really, that is particularly true in technical fields where a phrase or word misplaced can say something totally different than what was intended. A computer person should know that!
I guess what makes me sad about these types of conversation are the total disregard for the value of anything--anything--that does not appear to have immediate instrumental value. Are you going to die if you...learn something about religion/philosophy/science that doesn't put money in your pocket? Crimony.
BTW, I don't allow students to swear at me--it's one of my pet peeves. I don't swear at them even when, as you point out, I want to say: "Look, I have better things to do than converse with a spoiled, stupid little fuck like you." I can't count how many times I've wanted to say this...
Katherine: I agree, but the last time I did that, I got the "we can't talk that way to our students" lecture.
Ellen: Yes, there are always jobs as head night grill man at Mickey D's!!!
The world will be a lot better because there wouldn't be any room for hypocrisy.
Anyways, it's funny because I recently had a conversation that's quite similar to this. I was talking to a friend about why Biology is a required course for a Business Degree. Well, I was arguing on the other side, i.e. that it shouldn't be included in the curriculum.
I guess I'm naive because I just can't believe your students say "What the fuck?" to their professor. My students seem to see the "f word" as off-limits in front of me, even if I have on occasion used it.
I had a student tell me earlier this semester he didn't need English--he wants to be a lawyer.
Uh, ok.
I feel like it's just so ridiculous that students expect us to treat them well, to respond quickly, to be nice and understanding when their fifth grandmother this semester dies, when their computer all of a sudden dies right before the paper is due, etc., etc. And yet - they don't seem to be able to realize that we also are people with feelings and passions and struggles. It's like they only see our position - and that position is one that threatens them (due to our ability to grade them) and as such, we are objects, not people.
It's not like I want my students to *know* me - but I want them to know that I care and am concerned about their education, and that sometimes that causes me to have to make tough/unpopular choices, that I have to hold them to expectations, that I have to have demands, that I have to grade -- and that although I take it all very seriously, it's not all I do or not all of who I am.
I heard some grad students on the train yesterday talking about one of their profs, and I couldn't really hear what they were saying, but it was all, "SHE" this and "SHE" that. Although I'm a grad student and empathize with the struggles and frustrations when a prof doesn't give clear guidelines or has nigh expectatioons or whatever -- but that tone -- that overuse of "SHE" implied a lack of ability to see the prof as a person. I'm not sure if that makes any sense.
Obviously, I am having my own issues with this stuff right now :)
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