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[ranganathan]

I'm not the professor but I know her, so I can assume she would despair:

overheard in the library- one woman talking to her project group:

"I didn't even know we had to do that activity.  I mean, yeah, she sent us the e-mail about it and it's in the syllabus, but she didn't come around to all the groups and tell us there was an activity."

I know that the professor also announced the activity at the beginning of the class session. But I guess since she didn't go around the room and repeat it to each group...

[hulkhogan]

"I didn't even know we had to do that activity.  I mean, yeah, she sent us the e-mail about it and it's in the syllabus, but she didn't come around to all the groups and tell us there was an activity."

I know that the professor also announced the activity at the beginning of the class session. But I guess since she didn't go around the room and repeat it to each group...

I got this type of response from my former chair once. I was twice denied a key to my own classroom, and when the door was locked a third time and I held class in the hall out of frustration (and to make a point) instead of traipsing two floors down, get a key, unlock the door, traipse back down to return key, etc. etc., I was told my mistake was that I hadn't asked a third time because she would have given me the key then. WTF???????

[spork]

[. . .]
 (A male student is harassing female students who are in the class.)

[. . .]

This is not your problem, it's the problem of the dean of students and the head of campus security.  Stop letting the student waste your time and the time of his classmates, tell him his behavior must stop, inform the powers that be that you've notified the student of such.  The next time he steps out of line, kick him out of class.  Then let the gears of justice grind him up.

I have just spent almost this entire day dealing with this student. The plot thickens, because now I am banging my head on the desk because folks in a certain department on campus did not let me know about this student's condition, for which this behavior is somewhat expected. (Somewhat.) So I told the harassed student to report to the Dean of Students, the harasser is now on the Dean of Student's and everyone else's watch list, and I spent my day doing everyone else's work. I am now getting ready to fire off an email letting everyone know that if they just did their jobs, these things could be avoided. That's not inappropriate, is it? The email's not sent...there's still time to talk me out of it.

Again, this is not your problem unless you let it be your problem.  Sexual harrassment is not a disability.  If the behavior occurs again, kick the student out of class.  And tell the harrassed student to start using terms like "hostile environment" and "assault" with the dean of students and the campus police.

[rowan1]

In my favorite class (seriously, no sarcasm - I love this class, - just not this guy) I have just modified the syllabus because we want to spend more time reading their work.  I evenprinted up copies of the updated syllabus (a no no on our cash strapped campus), handed them out and then went over them first thing in class.

CB - (this could mean "clearly brainless, Chicktract Boy, Cheese Brain - what ever) I won't be here on Thursday.
I am pretty sure this is what he said but he mumbles so badly it is hard to be certain (at least he hasn't mentioned stool)
Rowan - OK.
CB - so we haven't read my play yet.
Rowan - we will still be reading on Tuesday
CB - we will?
R - yes, its in the updated syllabus.
CB - so when is the paper due?
R - on Tuesday
CB - I leave town tonight
R - OK
CB - so how do I get this done?
R - you can post it on the class site.
CB - I can?
R - just like the other assignments.
CB - but you want us to set up a meeting.
R - yes, before the 22nd
CB - the 22nd?

the conversation continued as we basically went back over the updates we had gone over in class.  He was clearly worried that he would be missing some deadline due to this trip he is taking (I still don't know if it is a conference for school or church - neither is excused as he burned his miss class for no penalty cards up long ago). I asked him when he knew about this trip - his reply "Oh, early September." and no, it had not occured to him to plan ahead and have material completed prior to the trip.  None of our syllabus changes moved dates up.

Every single assignment is like this with this one - every single time!  It is a writing intensive class so there are a lot of assignments.  We go over the parameters in class and then he corners me with questions.  Generally questions that can be answered by reading the assignment instructions.  Or that have been covered in detail in class.

And every single time he wants to know what my response to his work is even though I have told everyone that I will post my response on line, that I am not going to give one on one critiques standing in the hallway.

He is failing this class purely on technicalities (not showing up or turning stuff in or not formating correctly or just not following the directions in some way or another). And after each conversation with him my head hurts more.

This is an instructor permission grad level class and I still don't know who signed of to let this kid in here.  It was not me!

[polly_mer]

I read the comments about 13th graders and laugh.

The majority of my students this semester are performing below an 8th grade level.

They cannot do arithmetic.  I have students who tell me "well, I guessed at the answer" because the idea that a*b/c/d means multiply a by b divide the result by c and divide that result by d is too complicated.

They cannot write in complete sentences that include nouns, verbs, and properly spelled words.  If a homophone exists, they will invariably chose the wrong one.

They evidently cannot read a textbook; although, as of last Thursday, they all now have textbooks. 

They cannot reliably send email. 

Anything that happened more than 10 minutes ago is likely to not be remembered.  So the procedures like logging in the computer, starting up the program to run the equipment, and bringing up a new graph just like we have done three times a week for the past two weeks is beyond them.

[lohai0]

I have the one who claims to be medically unable to come to class Fridays, another who claims requiring papers to be stapled is but this is a direct quote from a student, who is a PRE-MED major, on Monday

"People should never shop at Whole Foods because after a generation of eating preservitives, artificial colors, and high fructose corn syrup, or bodies have evolved to need these things as essential nutrients. This is why everyone who shops at Whole Foods looks pasty and weak. I should know-I'm really into nutrition."

[voxprincipalis]

They cannot do arithmetic.  I have students who tell me "well, I guessed at the answer" because the idea that a*b/c/d means multiply a by b divide the result by c and divide that result by d is too complicated.

They cannot write in complete sentences that include nouns, verbs, and properly spelled words.  If a homophone exists, they will invariably chose the wrong one.

They evidently cannot read a textbook; although, as of last Thursday, they all now have textbooks. 

They cannot reliably send email. 

Anything that happened more than 10 minutes ago is likely to not be remembered.  So the procedures like logging in the computer, starting up the program to run the equipment, and bringing up a new graph just like we have done three times a week for the past two weeks is beyond them.

Polly, I'm not being snarky here, I promise. If I recall correctly, this is your first time back in the classroom after not having been teaching for awhile. Unfortunately, these are common problems, even at schools that pride themselves on their rankings. I wonder if you are suffering from the same kind of culture shock that most new professors experience (and I know you are not "new," but it seems to be the same kind of thing you're going through).

I don't know if it makes you feel better or worse to hear that you are not in this boat by yourself! I could see it going both ways -- on the one hand, it's encouraging to feel that there are others who face the same problem, and on the other it seems kind of depressing for the future of higher education. ;)

Anyway, not that you need my advice, but the longer you continue to get annoyed by what they can and (more often) can't do, the unhappier you will be. If this were the only post you'd made on the subject, I'd assume it was a momentary vent, like we all have from time to time, but it seems to be part of a more long-ranging culture adjustment that is not a comfortable transition for you.

Again, not snarky, and with only helpful intentions,

VP

[mountainguy]

I got this type of response from my former chair once. I was twice denied a key to my own classroom, and when the door was locked a third time and I held class in the hall out of frustration (and to make a point) instead of traipsing two floors down, get a key, unlock the door, traipse back down to return key, etc. etc., I was told my mistake was that I hadn't asked a third time because she would have given me the key then. WTF???????

Had this happened to me, I would have sent a group of students down to the chair's office. Subversive, I know.

[mad_doctor]

What bothers me is the complete lack of accountability and expectation that you'll bail them out.

I had a student who hadn't been attending since the beginning of the semester, hadn't taken the exams, hadn't submitted any of the work, show up after Thanksgiving break to tell me the obvious.  He was very sincere when he looked me right in the eye and politely asked, "So, what are you going to do about it?"

I said, "What do you mean, 'What am I going to do about it?!'  I've never seen you before today, and you're failing my class."  That was another two drink night.

[hulkhogan]

I got this type of response from my former chair once. I was twice denied a key to my own classroom, and when the door was locked a third time and I held class in the hall out of frustration (and to make a point) instead of traipsing two floors down, get a key, unlock the door, traipse back down to return key, etc. etc., I was told my mistake was that I hadn't asked a third time because she would have given me the key then. WTF???????

Had this happened to me, I would have sent a group of students down to the chair's office. Subversive, I know.

There you go being reasonable again, only that students would have never been given the key. You have to fight crazy with crazy.

[present_mirth]

To my sweet-but-extremely-flaky student:

No, Beowulf is not an alcoholic!  No, there isn't any evidence in the poem that he would be even better at fighting monsters if he had refused to touch a drop of mead beforehand.  On the contrary, refusing to touch a drop of mead would have been extremely rude and insulting to Hrothgar.  Anglo-Saxons are not Southern Baptists.  Deal with it.

And no, you cannot start taking the midterm early if you randomly show up in my office an hour before the exam period without providing any reason why you can't take it at the regular time.  What on earth makes you think that would be appropriate?

[polly_mer]

Anyway, not that you need my advice, but the longer you continue to get annoyed by what they can and (more often) can't do, the unhappier you will be. If this were the only post you'd made on the subject, I'd assume it was a momentary vent, like we all have from time to time, but it seems to be part of a more long-ranging culture adjustment that is not a comfortable transition for you.

Thank you, Vox, and I appreciate it.  I'm still frantically trying to figure out what to do with these students because, while I knew that I wouldn't be getting students like me or students who attended the kinds of schools I did, what I expected as the floor turns out to be several stories above their ceiling.  I didn't anticipate having to do elementary school remediation (I thought I would be remediating to bring middle school skills up to high school level) so I'm having a lot of head-banging moments while I try to find something that will reach these students in a way that doesn't insult them and yet teaches them something worth knowing. 


My frustration at this point is that the students won't even try now that we've established that I had unrealistic initial expectations and have modified the lessons to be more in line with their capabilities so that they are pushed just a little to learn new things.  For example, I had flash cards for vocabulary today because I know that the chapter uses words in a different way than common usage dictates.  The response was, "What's a flash card?" (remember, these are education majors).  I explained about flashcards.  I explained how to do the exercise of looking up various definitions, discussing them in small groups, and then writing the definitions on the back of the card with the word on the front.

Eventually, we got to the point that I read them a definition and just asked them if they agreed or disagreed with the definition that one of the groups had written.  The majority of the class refused to walk to stand near the wall marked agree or the wall marked disagree to indicate a decision.  They just would not participate in the easiest exercise that I could possibly devise to see whether they had learned the vocabulary.  There's no penalty for being wrong; all I do is give an expanded definition until we all agree or at least lie to me to shut me up.  But they wouldn't do it.

Yes, I probably still do have to work on my own attitude and let go of my unrealistic expectations, but what am I supposed to do with students who won't do work even when I spoonfeed them?  In all seriousness, I'm asking because I'm at a loss.  Two of my sections are responding to the new techniques and getting the hang of the material using different methods more appropriate to their level.  The third section refuses to do anything but write down what I write on the board and repeat it back to me in what should be a word-for-word parrot, but they often cannot copy properly off the board.

[temporaryname]

I read the comments about 13th graders and laugh.

The majority of my students this semester are performing below an 8th grade level.

They cannot do arithmetic.  I have students who tell me "well, I guessed at the answer" because the idea that a*b/c/d means multiply a by b divide the result by c and divide that result by d is too complicated.

<snip>

Nor can they identify similarly basic grammatical structures.

In my senior-level (senior-level!) grammar class, we've talked about active and passive voice several times. My students are all able to talk about it coherently...and, as it turns out, eighty percent of them were completely baldfacing their way through the discussions. The difference between has kissed and was kissed (by) apparently doesn't exist for a number of these students, at least when they're reading. And this is a senior-level distributional elective course, with a grammar-course prerequisite. You'd think that students taking the course even though they could take others, and who have taken at least one course in the subject before, would know some of the basics, right?

(Okay, so active and passive is higher-level maybe than a*b/c/d--maybe it's more like the way that a*b+c*d requires you to do all the multiplication before the addition, but *still*.)

[normative_]

I don't despair when students don't perform. I despair when administrators back up their complaints because they need the tuition money.

[phlegmatic]

[. . .]
 (A male student is harassing female students who are in the class.)

[. . .]

This is not your problem, it's the problem of the dean of students and the head of campus security.  Stop letting the student waste your time and the time of his classmates, tell him his behavior must stop, inform the powers that be that you've notified the student of such.  The next time he steps out of line, kick him out of class.  Then let the gears of justice grind him up.

I have just spent almost this entire day dealing with this student. The plot thickens, because now I am banging my head on the desk because folks in a certain department on campus did not let me know about this student's condition, for which this behavior is somewhat expected. (Somewhat.) So I told the harassed student to report to the Dean of Students, the harasser is now on the Dean of Student's and everyone else's watch list, and I spent my day doing everyone else's work. I am now getting ready to fire off an email letting everyone know that if they just did their jobs, these things could be avoided. That's not inappropriate, is it? The email's not sent...there's still time to talk me out of it.

Again, this is not your problem unless you let it be your problem.  Sexual harrassment is not a disability.  If the behavior occurs again, kick the student out of class.  And tell the harrassed student to start using terms like "hostile environment" and "assault" with the dean of students and the campus police.

Thanks for the support. Things are moving along. Everyone has been notified. And I am all about kicking this student out. We'll see how it goes.