The Multiple Dimensions of an Education

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,

During a recent conversation with a group of faculty from different departments, I was a bit taken aback when a number of my colleagues started talking about how they have to teach students how to write, how to use proper English in correspondence and e-mail, and that they often make this a part of class and even take off points for assignments that have spelling errors! Really, is that my responsibility because the students are in my major? Is that our responsibility as faculty at all?

Signed: Multi Tasker

Answer

Dear Multi Tasker,

Your question is directed at two related issues. First, how far do our obligations as educators extend and second, do we take on that responsibility, what ever it is, individually or as a team working toward a common goal? To answer both questions, it is important to address the more substantive issue first, that being where do our educational boundaries lie? Are they related primarily to the curriculum and content of the courses or do they include some preparation for society and the professional world the students are soon to enter? Put more simply, do we as educators have to do things like teach students writing and grammar skills, how to use proper English, or the protocol of written correspondence and spoken communication, and should this even extend to being part of their assessment?

Generally, yes, it is your responsibility to convey professional expectations to your students, but this is not just yours alone; it should be shared by all who teach. Broadly speaking, I view education as multidimensional, and that our education realm includes the following dimensions:

  • Teaching fundamental academic principles and skill
  • Conveying standards for business communication
  • Modeling expected professional behavior
  • Holding students responsible for their commitments and deadline
  • Requiring that students’ work and writing be of high quality
  • Fostering personal development in ethical thinking, teamwork, and leadership

Well, the list above involves many verbs embedded in our job descriptions, but I have come to recognize that as educators, we have been entrusted with several responsibilities that go well beyond delivering academic content to multitudes of students. Ideally –and perhaps idealistically– we are trying to set our students up for success in all aspects of life. To espouse, teach, model, and expect a high level of decorum, communication, ethics, initiative, and problem solving is no longer an extension of our work; it is –by definition– an integral part of it. Life is full of leaders, supervisors, coworkers, partners, teammates, subordinates, peers and colleagues, not to mention constituents, clients, customers, and even spouses and children with whom our apprentices will be interacting. It would be a disservice to ignore the elements that would contribute to their overall success on these fronts.

On this topic, since I have been faced with this question myself, I have taken the initiative to poll several colleagues who are teaching award recipients, with particular attention to those that were student-driven awards. I have asked these faculty for their opinions on this topic, and here are some of their responses:

“If we were going to only teach content, then a book or tutorial might suffice; we are preparing professional engineers, not just engineers (insert any major here).”

“We have both the capability and responsibility to impart competencies beyond the subject matter. We would be remiss not to groom our students for their life beyond academics.”

“I remember a student saying to me, that beyond the fact that I was prepared for class and was fair in grading, the students loved to see how I handled difficult situations and said that I was an good example to them in that way. What a compliment.”

“Many students have approached me or written to me months or years later and said they appreciated that I cared enough to include more than just facts and numbers in my lessons for them. Many have also conceded that it was hard to accept at the time, but that it made them a better person to be held to higher standards on several levels.”

“A sophomore returned from his first co-op and said that along with his work he was asked to write a memo, compose a business letter, and generate a fax cover sheet for various work projects. He was thankful that we had already done those things in our core engineering courses as part of bigger projects.”

“We are preparing our students not only technically, but for the next courses and for their employment. Therefore, we need to keep in mind the many facets of being in the classroom together that impact those that follow us and will be working with these students in the future. It reflects on us and our community if our students are prepared in many aspects of life and knowledge.”

So, this group of exceptional educators understands that unless we embrace the multidimensional teaching model, opportunities to fully educate students are lost. Naturally, our first priority is the course material and the additional responsibilities ought not to detract from that. Further, in taking on these responsibilities we must be discerning in the advice we give our students. Nonetheless, even within these limitations, through your interactions you are still educating them on what you recognize the general expectations to be from a professional individual’s perspective. This is valuable ‘knowledge’ that your students can take into their professional careers.

Finally, to help students perceive the value of additional “lessons” and understand your expectations of them, you may emphasize that your concern for them is not limited to how they treat or address you or how they manage the components of your course alone. Rather, there is perceivable value for them that you are just as interested in how they interact with other people, problems, and challenges, particularly in a professional setting. It is with in mind that they will have the best opportunity to be successful in their lives. At its most fundamental level, it is about understanding the universal rules that transcend the classroom –or at least recognizing what they are– and you are likely to offer them their first and only opportunity to practice integrating all of these elements before they enter the professional realm in which these competencies are not only expected, but rewarded. Better for the students to learn these lessons and develop them as traits now rather than learn them later the hard way, and possibly the expensive way.

Having established that our roles as educators do extend beyond the academic sphere, I will now go to the second aspect of your question –do we take on the sole responsibility for the students specifically assigned to us, or should we function as a team with a common goal? The preferable response becomes quite apparent… In many instances in life, the establishment and reinforcement of behaviors, principles, and policies is often derived from universal practice and acceptance of them. Therefore, to enable the students to learn from and respect the life lessons that we are offering them, we as faculty must all participate with continuous reinforcement across the board. They are our students. What a rich opportunity we have!

Jonas

Quick Tip

Other Teaching Challenges articles have dealt –directly or indirectly– with some of the individual issues raised in the general question posed above: “But the dog ate my homework…”, Civility in the Classroom, Language Usage, Student Excuses

______

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.

Browse the complete Index of Teaching Challenges – Chalk Talk