I'm starting to wonder if some of my grinding fatigue can be laid at the feet of untenable choices.
Would you prefer:
- Students who make a conscious choice never to come to your lectures (which means they haven't even seen one lecture and used it as a basis for the decision) yet faithfully do all the assigned reading and turn in the papers, or students who come to every single class meeting and participate enthusiastically but who never do the assigned reading (which shows in their papers)?
- A department chair who holds the line on a reasonable upper limit for his department's class sizes but whose faculty are thus bound to teach a minimum of four classes per term (and usually multiple preps rather than just multiple sections of the same class), or a department chair who reduces the number of classes his faculty must teach by increasing the class sizes (sometimes by a lot)?
- Students who can't quite see the point of the area of metaphysics on which your graduate seminar focuses, or students who feel the grip of this area of metaphysics so strongly that they are, literally, losing sleep trying to figure out the right analysis of the subject?
- Tax-payers who would like more control over the programs in the state universities (say, to gear them more toward job training), or tax-payers who don't want to fund education at all?
- Being an unknown on campus, or being so well known that people keep drafting you for committees and projects?
- Depending on funds raised by the state lottery to cover the costs of conference travel, equipment purchases, and the like, or living in a state where people have a good enough grip on probabilities not to be playing the lottery?
- Bad economy, or bad traffic on your freeway commute?
Which no-win choices are tiring you out?
Having to pick between two bad choices, or, not having any choice at all?
I had a student who simply couldn't come to class and feed himself (job conflict) but whose final assignment and presentation was A-grade (and in my chosen AoS as well). I wondered at the time if avoiding me meant he was less confused than the others...
I'd rather have a student participate even if s/he doesn't do the readings so there's a little dialogue in class. Class gets really boring if no one but the professor (i.e. me) talks. And I'd rather be unknown on campus - which is partly why I enjoy being an adjunct - no need to participate in the committees or do paperwork or such things!
Ah, I've got that one sorted: live abroad, and don't learn the language!
Bob
Different students have different ways of learning. Some learn better from reading, others from lectures/discussions. The most important thing is that the student understands the material. If a student goes to class and turns in a crappy assignment, maybe he should have also done the reading. If he can get by without going to class, that's his choice.
And I have decided that I'll never live anywhere that requires me to drive to my job. If I can't walk/bike, it's not the right place for me.
As an undergrad I very often didn't attend classes because even with good intentions, I hard a hard time paying attention, or even staying awake for the duration. My profs weren't boring per se, it's just me, I had attention problems when attending lectures. so I preferred not to come because I think it's impolite to look restless or to fall asleep when someone's talking, and I didn't want to be impolite to the profs, as I respected them very much. So I just didn't go, but studied the coursework on my own and handed in all the assignments and such. And it worked out very well for me. Maybe some of your students are like that, choosing the lesser of two evils, in a way.
The joy of teaching at a public university is...
it's irrelevant what you'd prefer!
You get stuck with both ends of the spectrum. The thing I really love/hate are midterm teaching evaluations. I curse the person who came up with the idea while at the same time thinking "ok, now I can get some direct feedback." If only the students would listen when I tell them the feedback forms are for MY benefit to learn what I'm doing right and how I can improve with THIS group of students. Instead, nearly all seem to think they're addressing my supervisor. Hair-pulling frustration indeed.
One of the things I've noticed from the first day I stepped in front of a classroom (as of all things, a substitute teacher) is that there's an unbelievable number of expectations on a teacher and many are at least on the surface mutually exclusive. Once in awhile I have to dissolve into inane laughter at the absurdity of it all, just to preserve my sanity.
Then I get up the next morning and I go teach again, hopeful that today I will leave someone with something of benefit.
Okay, let me try here:
1. Students who don't show up, but do the work,
2. Four smaller classes per term,
3. Students who are losing sleep thinking about metaphysics,
4. No tax-funding at all,
5. Being an unknown on campus,
6. N/A (see 4),
7. Bad economy.
What do I win?