Had a student in class this morning pull out a compact and start applying mascara during a discussion of a Fairly Important Point That Will Be on the Upcoming Exam.
Stuff like that has a way of ruining my entire day. My too-active inner critic goes nuts over that kind of thing, takes it as proof that I'm boring and suck as a teacher and all of that.
I'm taking deep breaths and telling myself what I'd tell another person in a similar situation (that the other person's behavior tells you more about THEM than it does about YOU) but it's not entirely helping.
Dangit, it's only Wednesday. I knew there was a reason I didn't want to get out of bed this morning.
ETA: Actually, a couple more thoughts, now that it's the end of the teaching day (but not the end of the work day; I still have some research work and grading to do). Afternoon lab (with a different class) went better so I'm in a slightly better mood but:
I think this incident is why I'm so wary of the "COLLEGE FOR ALL!!!!" plans. Not everyone WANTS to go to college. Not everyone needs to go to college. And making it seem like college is the ONLY option for 18 to 22 year olds is a real disservice. (I think part of the problem is that a college diploma - a B.A. or B.S. or B.G.S. now signifies what a high school diploma once did. I think high school has been considerably watered down in the last I-don't-know-how-many years. My late aunt, who graduated in like 1936 or so, never went to college but knew Latin and a fair amount of fairly complex math...she knew stuff that I don't know, with all my degrees. I may have more specialized knowledge but I also know there are considerable lacunae* in my general knowledge.)
(*I used that specific word unintentionally, contemplated removing it as a "show offy" word, but then realized its origin and it made me smile, given the context of me talking about not knowing Latin, so I let it stand)
I have run up against people - some of quite them open about it - who went to college against their wills, because it was what their families wanted or expected them to do. And I do think a lot of people now do have the idea (and it's probably more true than not) that you can't get a decent job without a college degree. (I would argue that needs to change: increase the rigor and expectations in grade school and high school, maybe offer a college-prep sequence and a "terminal degree" sequence along with vocational and other sequences, and let people pick what they want)
I also find a certain number of college students don't know what they want to do. I don't mean they're not sure whether they are better off majoring in Chemistry or Biochemistry, I mean they don't KNOW, in the sense of, if I ask them - as is a typical break-the-ice question I use - "what would be your ideal job?" they can't give an answer. And while I think it's fine to try different things out when young...it's a little unsettling to have seniors telling you they don't know how they want to earn their bread yet.
So: not so down with the one-size-fits-all solution of we MUST send them ALL to college!
Another idea I've seen floated - that rather than going straight to college, we require a couple years either volunteer or military service of young people - I don't like that either. On one hand, I've had a lot of former military students, and they are by and large more mature and have a clearer sense of purpose than the average graduated-high-school-three-months-ago person. But on the other hand, making it a blanket requirement would be frustrating to those (like me) who were ready for college, had an idea of what they wanted to do with their lives and what they needed to do to get there.
I don't know. I do know that some of the 18 year olds these days are *awfully* young. And that my parents would have slapped me silly (and they didn't even DO corporal punishment) if they heard of me applying make-up while I was in class.
(And this is one of those "poor, pitiful me" moments: I was raised to be SUPER respectful of my elders and those in positions of authority. And then when I achieve that status, apparently it's no longer "done" to show that level of respect. I feel cheated, somehow...)
6 comments:
You could have done what some of my teachers did ... stop and ask the inattentive student to explain the topic.
My first semester as a professor a bright, wanted-to-be-in-college student who sat in the front row and asked intelligent questions took out a compact and applied her make-up AND had the audacity to ask me to return to an earlier point once she had pencil back in hand.
I was flabbergasted.
She was genuinely clueless that this was inappropriate behavior.
During a different class period, when I "reminded" my students that texting, chatting, . . . and personal grooming during class were all rude and distracting, she did not look in the least bit abashed. Instead, she raised her hand and asked, "But what if your lips are dry? Does that apply to lip gloss too?"
One of my professors used to throw erasers at the big metal trash can in class. "Wake up exercises!" she used to say. Loved her - she eventually became an Episcopal priest!
Total agreement on the "one size fits SOME" reading.
If I had it all to do again, I would have taken a vocational route--gotten training to do something related to what I thought I wanted (tl;dr--wanted to practice medicine). I could have taken a short course to become a phlebotomist, an x-ray technician, whatever--and then worked my way through college.
I think that would have had more meaning for me. College was just an extension of high school, and while I use the SKILLS I acquired, I don't so much use the LEARNING I paid for.
Unfortunately, I think that now that society is adjusted to comceptually having "high school" last eight years instead of three or four (i.e. we effectively now have a 13th ,14th, 15th and 16th grade) it's unlikely that an effort to compress all that learning back into grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 will work. Whether today's kids are learning substantially more in 16 years than our great-grandparents learned in 12 is a debateable point. I personally will waffle and say "more about some things, less about others."
Considering the astronomical cost of college right now, I completely agree with you. Certainly when I hear of the behavior of some these kids (via Facebook), I can't believe parents are actually paying for this. Obviously a lot of kids are way too immature to be in college at 18.
Grace
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