Today was the last day of class here at Big Southern State U. The students continued the university tradition of clapping for the professor at the end of class.
This tradition makes my skin crawl.
Why, you ask?
I am an educator. I am not a trained seal. I do not perform tricks with balls and fish and my nose. (Well, sometimes I do, but only on Wednesdays when there is a full moon.) One typically claps, does one not, for entertainers? I am not an entertainer, although I am increasingly shoved into that role.
Admittedly, one might hear clapping after a particularly rousing speech at a town meeting (to show agreement) or after a film (I don't know why Americans do that, it's not like anyone can hear you in those boxes.) So perhaps they are showing agreement or blind approbation.
But it sure feels like I should slap my flippers together and cry out "Ar! Ar! Ar!" whenever they do it.
Edited to Add...This was, like my Epistemological Eddie post, written in a fit of rage. Therefore, it failed to reveal an important set of hidden assumptions, a major one being my own train-wreck of a job in this class. My problem was one alluded to below...I know that I did a shitty, shitty job of teaching this class. I also felt like the clapping was a kind of perfunctory gesture that "everyone knows about" and therefore does. Big Southern U has a sick fascination with itself and its "traditions," and it deploys them rather uncritically.
I am genuinely uncomfortable with the sense of performance, because it fits into the notion that they must be "entertained." They probably don't mean it that way, but the nasty voice in the back of my head says "Good job, Sparky the Seal!"
Well, if they didn't clap, you could go all Shamu on them like the killer whale that killed a great white shark and then only ate its liver. The really cool thing was that hundreds of other sharks disappeared for miles around after it (true story on NatGeo!)
ReplyDeleteHopefully, you got some nice, sincere applause for job well done. I'd probably have to tape my own canned applause and pay some plants..
I have always thought of applause as an expression of appreciation and respect (something that is often lacking in classrooms) and not something reserved for a good performance. It doesn't seem that offensive to me.
ReplyDeleteTry making absurdly obscene remarks about the students at the end of the class. Then see if they still clap.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Emerakea, here. OTOH, we all know how to make something that should be respectful into mocking. Look and see the motivation behind the students' applause. Even if it's just respecting the tradition, that's something.
ReplyDeleteAs a student, I certainly see applauding a professor as a sign of appreciation and respect, and I believe most of my classmates do too. I try to communicate my appreciation in person or at least via e-mail as well, but only if I have something else to address or if the professor has affected me deeply. I doubt you want an email saying "thx 4 a gr8 semaistr teach!!!!!" from each student in one of your classes, so isn't applause a perfectly reasonable method of communicating gratitude as a group?
ReplyDeleteAs Boaz notes, the applause can be sarcastic too, but as long as they're not glaring and slow-clapping then you're fine. Subtlety is not a common trait among flakes...
What's crazy in my mind is when I worked as a TA for an inexperienced prof. They hated the prof all semester, bitched and moaned about the weak lectures and ill-designed assignments, etc. Then at the end they clapped. A balance between obligatory end-of-semester behavior with no emotion behind it and perhaps some ironic "glad this is over" expression.
ReplyDeleteTotally stupid. Wish it would end.
I wish we had that tradition. At my undergraduate institution we all clapped for a prof who (we were told on the last day) was retiring, and this was the last class he would ever teach. He seemed genuinely touched.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know that seals are incapable of barking and balancing balls are their noses (they also can't stand/balance on their front flippers). You are thinking of sea lions. Both are pinnipeds, but seals and sea lions are anatomically and physiologically different.
ReplyDeleteAt my university we always clapped for the professor at the end of the semester. It was meant as a gesture of appreciation and respect.
ReplyDeleteWhat would make you happy? You complain about flakes and lack of appreciation, and then complain when you are appreciated, so I have to say I'm not feeling all that sympathetic to this.
I've never seen this happen in 20 years of teaching. I always thought it was an urban legend.
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ReplyDelete?!
ReplyDeleteOdd tradition - a little bit much.
You could always announce that your classroom is "applause free," and all that.
I think killer whales eat sea lions, too...
ReplyDeleteWow, never even heard of that. The way I feel at the end of the semester, I think I'd cry if my students so much as showed ANY gesture of appreciation, even insincere and expected applause!
ReplyDeleteWhere I went to grad school it was a tradition. I think it is mostly harmless, and I'm not sure why you'd get worked up about it. But at least you aren't taking it to the other extreme. One of the proffies in the department where I did grad work used to throw his hands up in the air, rock star style.
ReplyDeleteWhat would you rather them do, blow a raspberry? Or how about throw fish?
ReplyDeleteI'd rather that they learn the subject matter and leave the BS out of it.
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ReplyDeleteI am a first-semester PhD student at a large and somewhat traditional state university, TAing several discussion sessions for a large undergrad course. Today at the end of my last discussion session, the students gave me an ovation. I was surprised and touched; I've worked hard to make the semester interesting and worthwhile for them, and I felt like that effort was being recognized (especially since my fellow grad students told me that applauding TA sessions is not the norm). The truth will come out in their course evals, but for now I'll take whatever affirmation I can get!
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is a problem here, if students clap unconditionally of teacher performance, and I don't think I'm being cynical. I think it has something to do with the underlying assumptions of our culture and our perceptions of teachers. I hope that students would want to clap for *themselves* for their own hard work-- instead they view teachers as having the primary responsibility for their effort in the course.
ReplyDeleteI think you should object to this custom with, um, whoever determines this sort of protocol, rather objecting to the students who are merely continuing it because they are trying not to be disrespectful. If it's the custom to clap, the students probably feel that it would be rude not to clap. Just as many people feel it's rude not to say "bless you" when someone sneezes, even though I think it's superstitious nonsense. But it's customary and may be regarded as rude to omit it, so I just say "bless you" to avoid giving offense over a trifle. I am sure that's what the students were doing.
ReplyDeleteAs far as how to tell if you really did an outstanding job - did any students individually thank you, in person or by e-mail? Or otherwise mention that the class was helpful? That would be one way to tell.
I think if my students clapped for themselves I might throw up.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand your objection. The applause seems like a gracious gesture, and it doesn't strike me as patronizing or cynical. As you note, people applaud everything from films to State of the Union addresses. In my field, it's customary to applaud speakers at professional conferences (twice, in fact, once at the end of the talk and once after the question period).
ReplyDeleteAt the end of my last lecture of the course, I tell my students I enjoyed having them in my class and wish them success. Sometimes I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Other times I force myself to think about the one or two good and deserving students in the class as I say the words. Your objection seems to apply to this as well, but in both cases it just seems polite to part graciously.