Spring Break
Letter to the Editor: View on 'war' all wrong
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Opinions
There's something so deeply anti-intellectual about Krystal Moya's column from Monday, which suggests that the last two weeks of every semester are the scene of a "war" in which students attempt to outflank cagey professors bent upon issuing low grades.
Is the relationship between professor and student as combative as this? If that were the case, wouldn't professors then tend to view the failure of some students as a form of victory?
The fact is that we don't. Professors are people who have dedicated their lives to informing others about subjects we find compelling enough to claim a lifetime's worth of attention, and when either through their ineptitude or our own, some students don't grok the material, we tend to view that outcome as our own defeat.
Reading Moya's set of recommendations for professors - that we give more quizzes to ensure our students are completing the assigned reading, that we require earlier proposals for final projects we can then more effectively micromanage, even that we collect (and then correct!) students' notebooks so as to ensure they are paying attention to what we say in class - makes me feel tired.
Note to Moya's beleaguered professors: drinks are on me after grades close next month.
They also make me glad I know so many students who are unwilling to similarly infantilize themselves, and who view the end of the semester as something more than a hunt for the ever-important A.
Chris Hanlon, associate English professor
Is the relationship between professor and student as combative as this? If that were the case, wouldn't professors then tend to view the failure of some students as a form of victory?
The fact is that we don't. Professors are people who have dedicated their lives to informing others about subjects we find compelling enough to claim a lifetime's worth of attention, and when either through their ineptitude or our own, some students don't grok the material, we tend to view that outcome as our own defeat.
Reading Moya's set of recommendations for professors - that we give more quizzes to ensure our students are completing the assigned reading, that we require earlier proposals for final projects we can then more effectively micromanage, even that we collect (and then correct!) students' notebooks so as to ensure they are paying attention to what we say in class - makes me feel tired.
Note to Moya's beleaguered professors: drinks are on me after grades close next month.
They also make me glad I know so many students who are unwilling to similarly infantilize themselves, and who view the end of the semester as something more than a hunt for the ever-important A.
Chris Hanlon, associate English professor
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Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Fellow Faculty
posted 4/22/09 @ 6:39 AM CST
Very well stated, Chris. I gave up force-feeding, entertaining, and pandering to students who think learning occurs by diffusion long ago.
Fellow Student
posted 4/22/09 @ 10:22 AM CST
I agree, there IS something so deeply anti-intellectual about Krystal Moya's column from Monday. I think it's Krystal!
Porterhouse
posted 4/22/09 @ 6:16 PM CST
Not all learning is done in the classroom. Ms. Moya has obviously failed to learn a vital lesson: responsibility. When one attends an institute of higher learning one is expected to be mature enough to take responsibility for one's own actions or inaction. (Continued…)
Williamson
posted 4/22/09 @ 8:06 PM CST
I teach a lot of freshmen who say they are Pre-Med, Pre-Health, Pre-nursing, et cetera. I used to feel frustrated at how many of them show so little effort and fail miserably. (Continued…)
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