I have four kids in my summer class who stumble in to the 8 am start time absolutely wasted, drunk, high, something.
Why do you take classes at such times, kids? What's wrong with you?
And then they have 900 things they need once they get there. Nobody thought to bring paper or pens. There's always monumental syllabus confusion. "Is that TODAY?"
I know somebody is paying for their classes; it's not a cheap ticket here either.
I just want to tell them how ridiculous they are, pull them all aside and explain that they should probably just go get stoned and take class when they grow up.
Do I sound impossibly old?
Yeah I get that too, and summer classes are particularly bad for that. A lot of students seem to come with the erroneous impression that a summer class is somehow more casual than the fall/spring semesters.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem telling them...suck for you eh?
There are 2 main attitudes we could take:
ReplyDelete1- Treat them like adults and tell them to shape up or fail. Or just let them fail without a word. Either way, they fail on their own.
2- Treat them like children and coddle them and pretend they're not doing themselves (and whomever is footing the bill) a huge disservice. Oh, and of course give them all the chances in the world to save their grades when they sober up in the last week of the course!
It seems that more colleges are demanding we do #2 while claiming we're doing #1.
For me, this administrative schizophrenia makes me feel like someone did #1 and #2 all over the school.
It's all on the syllabus, isn't it? "Do these things. They are each worth this portion of your grade. At the end, I will add them up, and that will be your grade."
ReplyDeleteDon't do them, or do them badly, and THAT will be your grade.
If they're so drunk they're disruptive, of course, they can leave or I can call security. Otherwise, not my problem.
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