I have finally found a student who makes me regret the day I decided to become a professor. It took over ten years to get him but he is definitely making up for lost time. I called him Dennis the Menace. He’s an older student, mid-30s, and thinks he knows everything. I know we have all had students like that but this kid brings it up to the next level. He challenges me on every aspect of my class from the way it is presented to the textbook to my actual knowledge of the subject. This is making most of the students in my class very uncomfortable. A few of them have taken me through all the prerequisites for this class and have stood up for me during class. The kicker is that before class one day, he tried to instigate what I will call a “coup” in that he tried to get the students to rally against me. Thankfully most of the class shut him down before I got there but the tension was so great during my class that I was positive a fight was going to break out. FYI, I did not find out about the attempted coup until after class.
He also stalks me during my office hours. Every time my door is open, his is there complaining about the grade that he received. When I try to give him advice, he interrupts me and continues on with his argumentative behavior. Actually, I should say “belligerent.” It is one thing to complain, it is another to constantly harass me to the point that I want to smack the boy upside the head. My office mates were even shocked by his behavior. Dennis just sits there and tries to bully me into changing his grade. I refuse to budge. I tried to explain to him that once he gets his PhD in Basketweaving then he could be critical of what I do. But alas, that snarky comment only made things worse.
Dennis has been to the Department Chair and the Dean. He even went so far as the President’s office to complain about my class. Everything that I do has been opened to scrutiny. You name it, I have done it wrong. Hell, he even complained that I do not dress “professionally” enough given my position! Luckily I have been on the offensive myself talking with my Chair and the Dean of Student Services. I have even lodged a formal complaint and everybody is taking my side in the matter. However, the only suggestion was to place him in another section of Modernistic Basketweaving but I’m the only one who teaches it. I also did find out that he got kicked out of another college, though for what I can only guess.
All I do know is that May seems far, far away right now.
If all else fails, troll him. I suggest sending the student erotic fan fiction involving him and Captain Picard.
ReplyDeleteI've taught the K-16 circuit for years and years. Trust me, he would've been worse as a ninth grader. When those students get mad, they throw chairs at you, too. And administration is just as responsive as they are being with you now. Just be glad he isn't the oldest of nine siblings, all slated to move through your class at some point.
ReplyDeleteYou must have some sort of behavior policy at school (i.e., you can not disrupt class). Take control of this situation. Maybe it's seemed difficult, because of his age, he starts to take on the appearance of being your peer (his mistake). Ask him to come in for an appointment. Bring the department chair with you. Turn the tables on him. Ask him what he does for a living. He must work, or have had a job in the past. Role play a situation based on his career path, where you play the worker, and he is the boss. Have him imagine what his job would be like, if he were constantly attacked with A, B, C. See if you can get him to reflect on how miserable and impossible his job would be, if he was faced with that. Then connect the dots between his imaginary work scenario, and your class. Tell him that you are unable to get the job done, with his persistently negative behavior. It's taking away from class instruction, and it's unfair to your other students. If he was really this unhappy about the class, he had the opportunity to drop. He *chose* to stay, so it's on him to conduct himself appropriately. Otherwise, you can *choose* to throw him out, each and every time he gets cantankerous with you. He's in violation of your school's behavior code, and can't stay. Keep campus police on speed dial, and be willing to call them up and have him escorted out. Tell him you will have him physically removed, if he can't be civilized.
Give him a specific list of what needs to stop. He can contribute to class discussion, but can not attack your teaching approach or methods. Let him come to office hours and have his voice there. But give it a time limit, as you have hundreds of students, and he's taking up too much time. Tell him he's got 10 minutes to present his argument, and you will take it under consideration. He'll still have his (albeit annoying) voice, but it's under a controlled environment. Remove yourself emotionally from his office rants and raves. Just listen, nod, thank him for coming in, and tell him that you will have to "think about it." You don't have to defend yourself, your class, your grade, anything. You don't have to get into a negative deadlock with him.
Can I suggest a good book, "Tools for Teaching" by Fred Jones. He gives all sorts of great information on how to diffuse power struggles and deal with negative behavior. I've recommended it to many of my college-teaching colleagues, and they've said it's been helpful. It has a K-12 focus, but bad behavior is often juvenile!
ARGH. I'm sorry about your experiences with Dennis. They sound utterly, utterly shitty. My sole advice would be making sure that the Powers That Be are on your side (which you've done) and then having a wee convo where you emphasize how damaging his behavior is to the learning of other students and then go the route suggested by Julie: removal.
ReplyDeleteHas anybody ever actually thrown a kid out of your class? I've only done this a couple of times, and it was clear that the student was so angry that he was not going to stick around (Oh, he also called me a "c*nt," the first person to do so. Ever.) What do you do when you try to kick someone out and they refuse to leave? I mean, call Security obviously but...whoa. Anybody have this experience?
Try to verify his expulsion from the other institution. Some Dean of Students officials are pretty resourceful about checking into prior offenses, and this case suggests some urgency.
ReplyDeleteI have a zero tolerance policy for students talking during other students' presentations, which means that I toss someone out of class every other semester for that.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I once threw a guy out because he got mad at me for shutting down his oral presentation - it was supposed to be 5 minutes, but he had been going on for 10 and then said "Now, my third point is..." After I told him he was out of time and stopped him, he sat reading a novel while I was lecturing to the class.
So I said "am I boring you?" and he said "you wouldn't listen to me, so I am not listening to YOU!" At which I pointed out where the door was, and he stamped through it.
I did call security once when I asked a student to come to my office to discuss his behaviour, which was getting out of hand. It's an extremely long story, so if you are interested, read it here: http://whatladder.wordpress.com/tag/pineapple/
I was thrown out of my sophomore English class, and here's how it happened. I walked in, and I happened to be wearing a man's suit and tie (I am a woman). I realize this sounds like a ridiculously corny mode of dress, but it was a long time ago, and I was trying to be edgy because I was 19 and sort of a dumbass (like most people are at 19). The professor took one look at me and said, "What is this, Jodie Foster re-runs?" Which is actually quite hilarious, but a bit too mean, especially from a guy who wore a dorky bow tie to class every day. I managed to refrain from calling him Orville Redenbacker, so I don't think it's too much to ask him to refrain from commenting on my attire in front of the entire class.
ReplyDeleteI said, "I have better things to do than be insulted by you!" And he said, "I have better things to do, too!" And I said, "No, you don't. I can leave this classroom anytime, but you are contractually obligated to remain and teach." Which is obnoxious, but hey, I was 19, being obnoxious comes with the territory. Anyway, he replied, "Then maybe you should just leave." And I said, "Are you asking me to leave your classroom?" He said, "Yes." So I left, no argument there. I returned the next week as if nothing had happened. And to his credit, I did get an A-; I might have been on the edge and he opted not to bump me up to an A, but he never let his dislike of me affect his grading of my work.
Moral of the story: you can ask a student to leave, if he's being disruptive. Most students won't have to be physically removed; the humiliation of being kicked out will be sufficient to make them want to leave, or to flounce out in a huff. It may be that you have reached the point where you *should* ask him to leave, if he's wasting class time and disturbing your other studetns.
Not to bring up the specter of massacres past, but remember that confrontational behavior like this could be a gateway to actual violence. This is not something to ignore - proactively seek the offices and resources suggested by the other commenters here. Don't assume those you have already talked to will solve anything.
ReplyDeleteCan you rally some other students around you and make Dennis feel unwelcome? I helped a professor out a few semesters back, we had a guy that was just way too dumb for the class and taking up too much time. I went to Dr. X's office hours with a deal: "I'll run off dumb ass, you owe me a beer."
ReplyDeleteIt was the coldest beer I've ever tasted.
Next time he acts up, kick his ass out and complain to the powers that be. Tell them you no longer want him in the class. If that doesn't work, go to your HR office and start complaining about a hostile work environment. HR people don't like that phrase, since it makes them think lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteYes. I have thrown students out of class. In the 9-12th grades, it happens quite a bit (hah). If they refuse, you call in the reinforcements. I've had to call campus police once on a student, who was out of control angry and rude, and refused to leave when I ordered him out. Police showed up pronto, and he left without fighting them. Had a hearing with the dean, in which he denied ever being an asshole. Never showed up to my class again. Small victories.
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