I don't even know quite how to begin, so I'm going to start with a little story. A few years ago, I started Organic Chemistry. The first week, we had a decent sized homework assignment due. After everyone had handed theirs in (at the beginning of class), a little blond girl walked up to the front of the room. I didn't know her, but she struck me as the kind of girl who was really popular in high school and skated through by copying people's homework. She turned on the innocent charm and approached our instructor.
"I didn't know that we had a homework assignment that was due today. Can I bring it by your office later?" [Insert nauseating puppy dog eyes and syrupy voice].
"No."
"No?"
"No. You're in this class because you are planning for some kind of important career, whether it's a doctor or a vet or whatever. In those kinds of professions, you are required to be responsible. You need to start now. I don't allow late homework."
This girl was practically in tears as she took her seat. She quietly explained to her friends what the big bad teacher had told her. They consoled her. I smiled and thought, "Dang, this instructor rocks. See, one of my biggest irritations is people who don't take responsibility in life. My O-Chem professor set the tone right from the start - we knew what she expected and we all did our best to live up to those expectations. That's how it is in the science department. We can't say, "I got a C. That's good enough," because it's not good enough. A 2.0 GPA is never going to get you into graduate school or medical school. A lot is expected of us and we work hard. So now on to the thing that's making me absolutely insane with irritation tonight:
I'm getting my English minor, so this semester is full of English classes. The semester is almost over, but this has been bothering me the entire time. People in this department are incredibly lazy. I'm not going to generalize and say that all English majors are lazy, but there are quite a few that are giving the whole group a really bad image. The problem manifests itself most in my Creative Writing: Non-Fiction class. It's a one-night-a-week class from 7-9:45 p.m. At the beginning of the semester, Misty Urban explained to us what was expected. She went over the assignments. She passed around sign up sheets. We got to pick which essays from our anthology that we wanted to present (everyone was supposed to sign up for two). We got to choose which days we wanted to be responsible for bringing in our own essays to be "workshopped" by the class. Misty photocopied the schedule for both of these things and gave a schedule to everyone so we would have no doubt which nights we had to present something. You would think that everyone could figure it out. Wrong. Here's a typical weekly conversation:
Misty: Student, I believe you are leading our discussion of this essay tonight.
Student: Am I?
Misty: I have you down for it right here.
Student: Oh. I didn't read it.
Then later...
Misty: Everyone who was supposed to bring essays tonight, do you have copies for the class? Student A, Student B, Student C, Student D? [Students A and B pass around their essays] Student C?
Student C: Would it be alright if I get it to you later?
Misty: Can you have copies outside my door by Thursday?
Student C: Probably.
Misty: Okay, everyone drop by my office on Thursday and pick up Student C's essay. Student D, do you have your essay for us?
Student D: Was I supposed to have one?
Misty: Yes, I have you down right here.
Student D: Oh.
Misty: By Thursday?
Student D: Okay.
But Thursday comes around and, after making the hike across campus to Misty's office, I find no essays outside the door. Critiques of our essays are also supposed to be submitted by each class member after one of our essays is up for workshop. This is a simple, one page response about the good and bad of our essay to help us in the revision process. Out of around 16 students still enrolled in the class, I got 8 critiques turned in for my first essay and 6 for the next. How do people get away with this?!? It is rude and disrespectful, not just to the instructor who tries to complete things on schedule, but to your classmates. It is rude to make us print off copies of your essay when you were supposed to provide them. It is rude to make us walk across campus to check for an essay every day that never materializes. It is rude to give us a critique four weeks late and expect us to give you full points. The worst part is that I see them getting away with it. When they don't have their essays/critiques/notes prepared when they are supposed to, the instructors in this department continually smile and say, "Okay, when can you get something to me?" I have not seen it affecting their grades. What I see are lazy students getting the same grade as dedicated students who meet their deadlines. It's not fair.
"I have to leave class early to study for a Spanish test."
Really? How long have you known about your test? This class is over in an hour. You really need to take off? Haven't you missed more classes than you've attended?
"My printer was out of ink."
Then come back to the school ten minutes earlier and print it off in the library. Don't say that, show up with nothing, and then not even turn your paper in by the following week. It's absolutely ridiculous.
"I didn't have any paper."
See above.
I can't believe what people get away with, and I nearly walked out of class in anger tonight. Out of five people that showed up to class that were supposed to have essay copies for everyone tonight, two of us actually had them. Now I am waiting on three people to post copies outside Misty's office. I will have to go there every day to look for them. I have to critique them by next Tuesday. My guess is that one will show up on Friday and the others will never materialize. I would also be willing to bet that none of these people fail the class.
I am a full-time student. I had a baby early in the semester. My husband lives 2000 miles away, my family doesn't live here, I have no roommates, and I'm basically a single parent with a newborn. I get to sleep in two-hour increments every night. If any of you lazy-ass slackers have a better excuse for not getting stuff done, I'd love to hear it. And if you say, "My printer was out of ink," I'll go absolutely insane.
I hear you, sister. We are one in our frustration. My only words of consolation would be that they DON'T always get away with it. I don't know for sure about other faculty, but just because I smile and say, "that's too bad," I still fail them. :0) And by the way, I can't imagine making the good students come in on their own time to pick up some slacker's paper. Uncool.
ReplyDelete