The Pissed Off Professor

In yet another twist of the change my workload game, the recent minutes of our department’s faculty meeting contained a few interesting bits of information:

1. Students entering English Writing 302 (Advanced Composition and Critical Thinking) from English Writing 300 (College Composition) are woefully underprepared.
2. Students entering English Writing 300 (College Composition) from English Writing 100 (College Writing) are also woefully underprepared.

Ironically, this was news to a few of the faculty members: primarily because most of them avoid teaching 300 and 302 like the plague because of the workload.

Those of us who teach these courses on a regular basis (primarily adjuncts), have been trying to get this message out for the last 5 years.

What was the preliminary answer this roomful of geniuses came up with?

Change 100 to a 4-unit course and change 300 to a 5-unit course.

Thankfully, a few of the room’s occupants have not lost all touch with reality: they pointed out upping the number of units really doesn’t change the course content. All upping the units does is increase the price of a course and alter workloads for the instructors.

A short argument ensued during which the proponents of the change stated that more units would make the students feel as if they were getting credit for all the homework they are being assigned.

Again, the clear heads pointed out the flaw in the “logic” of that statement: students don’t do the work they are being assigned which is the reason they aren’t prepared for the next level.

If earning a passing grade and moving on to the next level aren’t reasons enough for completing the homework, how will increasing the units change that?

More arguing and disagreeing brought the meeting to a close with plans to discuss the issue further at the next session.

I share an office with one of the thinking full-timers, and we got to talking about the debate. She is vastly different in terms of her teaching style, and while I wouldn’t call her an easy teacher by any means, she is much more low-key about many elements of a course than am I. She, too, is troubled by the laziness of students and the way this attitude has blossomed over the last 3-5 years.

Two good teachers—two opposing teaching styles—same (overall) student assessment: this says something, and what it says isn’t good.

The conversation was both positive and negative for me: it was good because it made me feel as if my concerns and frustrations are not merely a figment of my imagination; however, it was bad because it made me realize there’s really nothing a teacher can do—this isn’t about us.

I also had an epiphany: the instructors who are pushing for this unit increase are doing so at every possible turn with almost no regard for the outcome to anyone but themselves.

It’s a bit like the student who spends all of her time coming up with the excuse instead of just doing the work.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2007 at 7:01 am and is filed under College, Education, English, Students, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.