This Q&A was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond –
Question
Dear Jonas,
Students seem to present themselves and handle things differently from when I was in school. Many dress casually or even inappropriately(wearing what I think would be more appropriate at a volleyball game or beach picnic than in a learning environment); they seem to take very little seriously, particularly their studies. Even with consequences, they are often late to class or late submitting homework. They just don’t seem very responsible or committed to their “job” as students. If they do poorly, they often shrug it off and either ask me not to count that grade, or they just seem apathetic. When I try to go over their work to identify where they made errors, they often seem uninterested in understanding their mistakes. Have things changed that much, or am I just expecting too much?
Signed: Wishing for the Old Days
Answer
Dear Wishing for the Old Days,
Today’s students are operating under a very different set of expectations from the time when you and I were students. These changes come from societal influences (e.g., greater parental involvement in all aspects of their development and decision making), and may also stem from the high cost of a college education, which in turn leads to a false sense of entitlement. Some students may tend to view themselves as passive consumers who expect an education to be delivered to them at their convenience. There’s no question that often their previous academic experiences have not demanded the same level of responsibility now expected at the college level.
Ramping up our students’ sense of responsibility requires sensitivity about where they currently are developmentally. Our expectations for freshmen performance should be very different from those for juniors. At all levels we should, over a given semester, expect to see evidence of growth in a student’s sense of responsibility and maturity. Their initial errors in judgment, such as not handing in work on time, should have consequences that are serious, but not catastrophic, to enable them to make better decisions in the future.
As I discussed in the column Jonas on the First Class of the Term, your syllabus can clearly outline your expectations and set the stage for the standards that you’ll follow. I find it helpful to have the students periodically review the syllabus to remind them about the details of that “contract.” Your responsibility is to hold them accountable to the guidelines or rules established. Keep in mind that the more responsible students can be frustrated if they see that other students are disregarding the guidelines without any penalty. While I am not an advocate for excessive classroom “rules,” reasonable boundaries for professional practice as students are important to reinforce the concept that they have responsibilities and that actions (or inaction) have consequences. If you view overly casual or inappropriate clothing as unacceptable in the classroom, be clear about this in the syllabus, including what your response will be to violations of your guidelines. In this way, you set them up to become increasingly effective decision makers. Ideally, the syllabus should also have a section detailing what they can expect from you (corrected work returned promptly, respect in the classroom, etc.)
While short-term goals such as grades in the course can be detailed in a syllabus, mapping a student’s work and assignments to courses in their future curriculum or to future co-op assignments can reinforce the value of the material they may be struggling with. Tying their activities to future job responsibilities can be helpful. Presenting material and projects as if you were their supervisor rather than their professor can help them see the value of written and oral presentations. Various student behaviors can be referenced to co-op behaviors. For example, it is not much of a stretch to compare consistently late homework assignments to missed deadlines in the workplace, or tardiness coming to class compared with arriving late to a client meeting. You can remind them that being a full-time student is their principal work now, and as with every profession, there are norms and expectations.
Part of a student’s development is learning to take on more responsibility for his/her own learning. With an increasing emphasis on life-long learning to stay job-competitive, this development is more important than ever. You can reinforce this with both in-class and out-of-class tasks. In class, you can help the students be more active listeners and learners by questioning them and requiring feedback immediately so that they become trained as participants and not observers. You can also go over homework and course material, asking students to fill in information or solve problems in pairs. If you do this promptly, while the assignment is fresh in the students’ minds, they will tend to be more engaged. Emphasizing the reflection and review of their work is a key element. Outside of class, I have asked students to resubmit material that was missed on exams or homework in a structured way, with an emphasis on why errors were made and what can be learned from them. By helping students identify their own areas of weakness, we help to reinforce the idea that they will need to work on these aspects in future, more critical assignments.
We should be careful about the extent of help we provide to students when they are able to help themselves. Either from impatience or compassion, I’m often tempted to assist the students too much, and have to remind myself to let them do the work and struggle appropriately with careful guidance and feedback. Many students come for help, but are happy to just get the answer. I often remind them that the point is for them to learn it and show me they’ve mastered a topic. We should remember the Socratic method of asking questions in a logical sequence to let students “discover” the answer. By helping them learn that they are capable of doing this for themselves, you have provided a much greater service than giving the correct answer.
Good luck,
Jonas
Quick Tip
To get students to reflect more, and understand that I am not going to provide an easy answer, I remind myself to keep asking questions. When they say, “what equation should I use here?”, I often respond with a question like “what options do you have?”, or “where would you look that up?”. Try it in a conversation sometime and drive your friends crazy… but it works.
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This content was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond.
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