I Teach

This blog is a place for me to debrief myself after my classes. It will serve both as a place for venting and as an archive for what worked and didn't work for me. I welcome outsider comments about teaching techniques or anything else.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Damn the Man

Okay, so I'm officially "The Man" now...and I'm keeping a black person down. I have a student who didn't turn her paper in on time (due last Thursday). She proceeded to email it to me later in the day even though I said I don't take electronic submissions. I told her I couldn't grade it, she pleaded, I stood firm. Now she's pleading even more. I have once again stood firm, tried to reassure her that it is nothing personal, just that she didn't meet the requirements of the assignment. I feel awful about all of this. I don't even know if I really believe her story (that her printer didn't work), but I feel bad all the same. Nobody likes being the bad guy or the hard ass, but sometimes I guess we have to be. Ultimately, however, I 'm not sure what the point is in making her turn things in on time. I mean, what lesson am I teaching her? Am I just reinforcing a ridiculous system where employers need employees who can do what they're told. Am I just an agent of the State? I would hate for that to be my purpose in the classroom, but then again, isn't that what they (the students) are paying me for? Don't they come to college in order to get good jobs? All I know right now is that I'm dreading, DREADING, having to go to class on Tuesday.

> 3 comments

Comments:

Oh dear.
Yes, it is an icky feeling. But you *did not* cause this. She caused it by neglecting to follow the rules, and after she failed to follow them, by petitioning you to change them. If she were making a cogent argument about the irrationality, infeasibility or discriminatory nature/effects of your rules, then you should consider her petition seriously. However, she seems simply to be appealing on the basis of their inflexibility...which is, HELLO, the nature of rules. The rules on your syllabus outline a set of *mutual* rights and responsibilities upon which respect is built. You stick to your end of the bargin, she sticks to hers.
You do not need to be *teaching* her anything--breaking or negotiating the rules does not need to be a component of your pedagogical approach in order for the rules to rightfully exist.
And please, please--fight the temptation to dread class. Feel confident in your ability. Rest assured that you are doing the right thing, the best thing, in sticking by your promise to enforce the rules.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:48 PM

Hmm. I don't envy your position. The best professors that I had were always somewhat flexible, but I also knew that as a student, I had to meet whatever rules they established in the beginning. If I couldn't meet those expectations (for instance, turning a paper in on time), I knew that it was my responsibility to communicate throughout the situation and take responsibility for what had gone wrong. In other words, there was no room for me to protest their rules--I had to figure out how to wiggle within them.

# posted by

tim : 4:36 PM

Thanks ya'll this helps to keep things in perspective.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:11 PM

I Teach

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Damn the Man

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