Something I've learned

This is maybe a little epiphany for me.

I came in to read the evaluation comments today (and check to see if a manuscript I had submitted had come back. No dice on that, even though reviews of manuscripts for this publication were due in like Dec. 15).

The comments were mixed. More negative than usual, but a couple of my colleagues had warned me that this particular cohort of students seems prone to complaints. Most of them were of the "too much work" variety, which, meh. When I have people coming back from graduate school - or from working on careers in their field - and thanking me for the preparation I gave them, I can kind of shrug off "too much work." (And also, comparing it to my memories of undergrad school - which, of course, was back in the Pleistocene and also on a campus-generally-regarded-as-being-tougher-than-this-one - still, it's not an excessive amount).

But in one class where there was a project, wow, were there complaints. About the students not having had enough time. About the project being too big. About too much being expected. About them feeling like they couldn't get it done.

And I was all: wait, wait a minute. This was a project assigned at the start of the semester. They knew they were going to have to do it. And it was a project for which I believe we devoted four or five class sessions (of two hours) solely to allowing time to work on the project, with faculty assistance. And I know my co-teacher and I both commiserated about how many of the students came, heard it was a "work on projects day," and then left. And how we had lots of empty office hours. And how when we finally DID get the projects in, a lot of them were not up to the standards set in the class. And so some folks were disappointed in their grades.

And I realized: some of the negative comments for this class bear a slight winey hint of sour grapes to them.

And I realized: sometimes when people say bad things about you, it might, just might, not necessarily be that you screwed up. There are some people who like to find someone to blame their own, what would you say, lack of smashing successes? on someone else.

Because honestly, I don't see a way to have done that project allowing the students any more time - or giving any more guidance, short of mandating a proposal and mandating a first draft - which would greatly increase the grading in a class we already usually teach as an overload.

But whatever. I've done my due diligence for the weekend. (I was really more concerned about if the manuscript had come back; some publications, when there are revisions required, give a fairly short turn-around time for them and I'd hate to be "that person" calling the editor on Tuesday going, "I know it says the revisions were due in last week but can you cut me some slack because I just got back into town and I didn't feeeeeeeel like going in to my office right away?" (which is the truth; I really didn't feel like going in yesterday (and didn't) and didn't feel like going in today (but did).

So I'm going home. Goals for this afternoon: redecorate my mantel for January, and start putting away the unconsolidated quilting fabric into the big tubs that I got super-cheap on closeout at the Target yesterday.