SNOW BREAK!
We weathered our first storm as a crew this week. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about the snow. The white weather was, in fact, the relief from our trials. This week’s challenge: exam grades.
I don’t mean to be a student who complains about grades. Especially since we all know that the learning is what matters and often there are many other dimensions to the rather 2-D Grade Point Average. However, exams at their ideal should be measures of a teacher’s ability to communicate subject matter and expectations to a student, and the student’s pro-activity to master and retain this information or skill. At least that is how I define it. You may find that many conceptions of the “exam”, perhaps even your own, focus more on the student’s performance and responsibility. But I don’t think the teacher side should be ignored.
Take, for example, a group of 20 very bright and dedicated students. These students have been selected from universities across the nation, brought together for what they know will be a challenging program, and who approach their academics with the appropriate diligence. And half of them fail the first test.
It is true this particular exam was in a science class where non-science majors compose more than half of the population, but blaming the students first may be overlooking those other dimensions.
I also don’t mean to be a student who complains about teachers, but I think there is a certain amount of responsibility that falls to the educator when education fails. And worse, I think that students are not prepared or equipped to deal with this failure when it is not their fault. Elementary school taught me how to follow directions and swallow knowledge. Middle school taught me how to regurgitate knowledge. High school taught me to think about why I was receiving certain knowledge. College is teaching me how to ask for the knowledge I want and make my own. No where in that line up is, ‘how to help your teacher be a better teacher” or “how to productively express concern about the quality of the education you are receiving”.
Shipmates are stackable.
Teaching is a fine art. There is no doubt in my mind that teaching well requires incredible, often cross-discipline expertise and lots of experience. Even if you are a math teacher, you need to be able to communicate concepts to an audience. Even if you are an English teacher, you need to know how to reach students who may think in a very different way than you. You even need the patience and self-resolve to combat the human tendency toward minimal effort and selective motivation. Huge props to teachers. But don’t leave us alone out there to fight the grade monsters by ourselves.
There needs to be a balance of responsibility in any instance of learning. The learner should not be expected to compensate for inadequate teaching. Granted, this is often the case, and there is a lot to be said for taking to the books and teaching yourself, but this is again not the ideal situation. And certainly not the situation for which college students should be charged the heinous costs masquerading as tuition these days. The ideal learning and teaching exchange is one where the information or skill is presented in such a way that the student is equipped and motivated by the quality of the presentation to master the material. A lecture that presents no coherent goal or context for its subject matter does not motivate me to expend the effort to wade through pages of disjointed notes and chapters of dense, impersonal textbooks to figure out what the heck you couldn’t communicate. Yes, I could motivate myself, but I am motivated by attainable opportunities to learn, not insurmountable obstacles where I feel like I’m going it alone. Of course I’m still trying, but I am not meeting my potential with this subject matter. Please reciprocate my effort with a quality of teaching that meets my desire to learn.
That was, perhaps, a rant.
I, for one, am not particularly happy with my grade, but have experienced academic disappointments before and will simply keep doing my best (and I really didn’t do that badly). For many, however, bad grades first take an emotional toll, either propelling a student into an unproductive rage of guilt-motivated “study bursts” which accomplish nothing, or paralyzing them by self-loathing into complete inaction. I cite my Organic Chemistry experience. I am not suggesting that our teachers make tests easier to make us feel good about ourselves. Indeed, a little tough love is often the perfect motivation, but we are paying them a lot, we are trying really hard, and we are just not getting it. There is a disconnect. And I’m not sure it’s us.
[Please note (especially my parents) this is not a representation of my overall opinion of this program. I am learning a lot and this experience will be invaluable, I’m sure. The teacher-student responsibility thing is just a toughy. I know I haven’t even scratched the surface or begun to say anything worthwhile about it, but it’s on my mind.]
My hair is currently pink, purple, and orange. I have been compared to a My Little Pony and Lisa Frank stationary. I was pleased with neither of these descriptions, but I’m enjoying the hair.