This week is really all about how what a fuddy duddy I am!I'm in a computer lab in chilly Ohio with a class writing a final essay. It's a pretty complex assignment, a primary short story, and then one source they've had for a week, and one brand new source.
They are to write a final essay that analyzes the text and uses the two sources to support their thesis.
They have 90 minutes.
As I sit here and look around, 13 of the 20 have earbuds in or headphones on.
Yes, I like to be in my own little world as well, and in the car I blast my Sleater-Kinney and The Pixies.
But for fuck's sake, does anyone who's met the typical 19 year old American college student believe they can REALLY multi-task enough to write a final exam while they're listening to music?
I feel like I'm channeling Walter here, but these crazzy motherfuckers baffle me.
Any chance someone is dictating their final essays to them?
ReplyDeleteNormally I'd be right there with you on this, but sometimes oppressive quiet is too much for me - I need a little legitimate white noise to really focus. For one, and only one, though, final exam in college (years and years ago...) I brought my music player in and listened to a playlist I thought would help me focus better - mostly classical music kinda stuff, a little techno. (I asked permission first.) It really did help.
ReplyDeleteThough really, I also wonder if students today are capable of doing anything without earbuds in. I wonder if their ears now feel naked without them at least inserted.
Same. I do better with music. Granted, I'll realize that I haven't really heard any of the music once I get on a roll, but that's okay; it's not my primary focus, but the background noise is necessary.
DeleteMaybe they can tune out (familiar) music more easily than they can tune out less-predictable distractions in the classroom? I don't get it either (I find most music distracting), but it's definitely a common phenomenon. The time I really object is when they're walking around. #1: they're losing opportunities for interaction with their fellow human beings, the natural world, etc., etc., and #2: it's dangerous. It's amazing how close you can get to someone in a car these days and they don't even notice (and I'm not talking about a car with a particularly quiet engine). They also seem increasingly fond of walking across parking lots willy-nilly, rather than using the designated trails/crosswalks. Speedier forms of transit (i.e. bikes, rollerblades, skateboards) only exacerbate the problem.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in my cohort took our written comps that way. We emailed clever jokes about how our music choices related to our material for a couple weeks beforehand. We all passed.
ReplyDeleteI like this discussion very much. I'm a big music fan, and when I'm doing certain activities, I have music blasting. But I can't fully engage with reading or writing when something is in my ears like that. And I like Hiram's point about the multi-tasking effectiveness of our modern students. Studies suggest they can't do what they all say they can.
ReplyDeleteIn my own finals, like Hiram's I think, my students are reading some text for the first time, and then composing a written response. If they can do that and listen to Fall Out Boy at the same time, then cool. They can do what they want.
I mean, as Chris Rock says, you can drive a car with your feet, but it doesn't make it a good fucking idea.
I would have given anything to be able to do this as an undergrad, and not just because I had to sit most of my exams with a thousand other people under the buzzing yellow lights of the hockey arena.
ReplyDeleteI write and absorb information best in absolute quiet. If can't have that, the next-best option is to be in charge of the noise.
I wish earbuds and the accompanying equipment were available when I was in school. As has already been written, it would have provided a nice white noise as opposed to coughs, sneezes, buzzing, etc.
ReplyDeleteI had lab assistants in the early days who wanted to listen to music.
ReplyDeleteI had a junior faculty member bury their bodies under some pretty hedges near the arts building.
When I'm working-- writing, etc-- I'll listen to music, but something without lyrics or in a language that I can't understand at all. So I can understand this to some degree.
ReplyDeleteI cannot listen to anything when writing my own stuff or when thinking. When grading, however, pixies could duel circles around me and I wouldn't even notice; I can tune out anything when reading student work, apparently (probably because only 1/8 of my brain needs to be engaged).
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to understand, Hiram. For many students, earbuds act as plugs. If these students were to remove their earbuds, the handful of things rattling around in their transoms would fly right out, never to return.
ReplyDeleteThis explains my student, the paperclip, and the power string accident last week. I had him take the earbuds out, and his good sense flew out. Thanks for the perspective, Froderick.
DeleteMy stepson is learning to drive, and after a single, well-executed stop (after numerous unsuccessful attempts), he proclaimed, "Let's get some tunes going!"
ReplyDeleteWhich was followed by driving straight through the stop sign and nearly into the curb across the street. He never stopped his head-banging though...impressive!
I did manage to get the music turned off and things progressed well, but I was amazed at the instant reduction of ability in multitasking when he turned on the music, and I've wondered since if students are REALLY able to execute writing, studying, etc well when listening to music, or checking their phones, or whatever.