Apropos of holiday gifts we'd like, I agree that thank-you notes in a later semester are the best by far.
Now what about holiday gifts that students have given or tried to give you? My colleges have had (wise) policies about professors not accepting gifts from currently enrolled students, but I confess to sometimes not being able to say no.
For example, there was the student who made a folk art piece in a style we had covered, with imagery related to the course content and a poem taped to the back about how the course had changed her world view.
There was the Asian student who had returned to her homeland over spring break and brought back a food we had covered for its symbolism.
And the student who burned me a CD of relevant songs, since I try to play a topical song (such as "Superstition" the day we cover scientific reasoning) just before class starts -- incentive to arrive a little early.
Maybe they were trying to buy a few extra points, but all these students went out of their way and showed real understanding of what I was trying to do with the course. It seemed just cold to turn them down, and to cite the policy clearly is to say, "I'm sorry, I can't accept a bribe."
How do you handle student gifts? Do you ever make exceptions?
If grades are in, I can't see the problem! If not, I'd say simply, "I'm not allowed to accept gifts before grades are in; do you want to give it to the office staff to hold for me until then?"
ReplyDeleteThe best gift I ever got, and I think I said this before, was from a Children's Lit class where we had had a "what was your favourite childhood book" discussion. I told my class about this book I had loved, and how my mom had loaned it to someone, and it had never been returned, and they found a copy and gave it to me.
ReplyDeleteBest. Class. Ever.
Sorry for the minimal content comment, but...
ReplyDelete@WhatLadder...that is one of the sweetest things I've heard in this forum. Very touching!
The examples you've cited seem entirely reasonable. It seems the students are actually engaged with the course, and if the students offered me those things, I'd accept them, even the folk art thing that I guarantee wouldn't even remotely approach my personal aesthetic.
ReplyDeleteI had a student insist on giving me macadamia nuts. It was the strangest thing. He raved about them, how he brought them from Hawaii, like it was this rare treat. But they were available in the same brand at the local store. It was really random.
ReplyDelete"And what, exactly, is so amazing about your nuts in particular?"
ReplyDeleteCouldn't resist.
Bubba never did tell us which of the three he turned down: dope, booze, or sex.
ReplyDelete