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[expatinuk]

I guess it's because I'm still in the States, and have more time to read the boards here, but I'm really perplexed by some of the posts in other fora here at CHE. 

I've never experienced quite a lot of the student behavior that folks here write about. I do realize that Brit students tend to be more mature than American students. But I never had a student make me cry when I was in the US. Was I just old and battled hardened when I was teaching in the US? I've taught at all different kinds of institutions: SLAC, R1, HBCU, Regional State Uni.... and sure I had some students who tried things on (isn't that what students are supposed to do?), but as soon as I raised an eyebrow or said 'no' that was pretty much the end of the argument.

Was it me? or have students really changed THAT much?

[sandgrounder]

I saw that thread too with a sense of horror and disbelief. As irritating as my students can be at times, I have simply never experienced that sort of behaviour in the UK. They are adults, I treat them as adults and on the whole that's how they act. I've noticed though that some (not all) of the US exchange students I've taught are significantly less grown up than their UK / EU counterparts; some have tried messing around in seminars but TBH the rest of the class show such contempt for the childishness that it never lasts.

[qrypt]

I think faculty are also different here.  When I taught in the US, there seemed to be more of an expectation that your job is also your community.  Here most people treat it as just a job.  There is of course a down side to this, but I've learned to appreciate the advantages as well.  There's no chance a student here could make me cry.

[scotia]

I had two exchange students from US schools in my second year undergraduate class last semester. At the end of the final session they came to chat to me about various things.  They appreciated lots of things about the UK system and one of the things one student commented on was the fact that we did not, in his words, 'mommy the students in the same way they do at home'. He was sufficiently impressed with his first semester here that he was looking into the possibility of staying to complete his degree and not going back home when the exchange finished. The students particularly liked the way the class to a large extent self-policed bad behavior once I had set the tone in the first couple of lectures (I liked it too, having received dire warnings about badly behaved undergraduate classes).


Amended to add:
Why could I not see sandgrounder's post even on preview? grypt's post was immediately under expat's.

[theakston]

I've been horrified at some of the threads on other fora. I've never had a student fall asleep in class. In eight years I've had three students challenge their grades (I remember them so clearly I could tell you their names and the subject of their essays.) Having said that, I've taught a lot of American exchange students - I had a little bit of trouble with two of them one year, but nothing too bad.

I've found that students are far more committed to their studies now than a couple of years ago. They are generally eager to learn, and really enthusiastic. I don't know whether that's due to changes in my institution, or maybe a product of tuition fees.