Thank you for this essay! My partner teaches at a University and shares with me much of what you are experiencing. Wow- the downfall of society and education is tragic- financed and planned for failure. Hugs to you, Marissa, keep being you and keep going!
I'm so glad it resonated Robin! Unfortunately, overall. But it really is upsetting to constantly second guess whether or not I'm being a hard ass or if there's really a problem here. And they're paying for these classes that they're not attending! It's truly wild.
Yes, Shawn and I talk about this frequently. It is wild and "A Brave New World" - humans who care change the world for the better. Your patience and persistence guides you.
I am so sorry you had to deal with this! FWIW when I taught a state college composition class wayyyyyy long ago, it was kind of similar. COVID made it worse, but it's always been a thing. BUT it's so much different when you have students that care.
Thanks Tim, it really is!! It just makes it so much more fun and enjoyable. Hence why I might just stick with creative writing teaching from here on out.
Oh man. As a high school teacher (now and for the past 17 years), I believe all of this and apologize. I swear I'm teaching them to analyze instead of summarize and conduct graded discussions, but man...things are rough.
It's hard to discuss when you have an earbud in and TikTok is playing on loop. I have so many students assure me that they can listen to me and TikTok at the same time.
Now the trend in 6-12 education is to give students a 50% instead of a 0% if they don't do an assignment (therefore passing will always be possible). I hate this for all of us.
I hate throwing things onto middle/high school teachers cause y'all deal with ENOUGH. But some of this you've clearly taught, and they just haven't retained! There's NO WAY you haven't covered how to do a bibliography or how to capitalize things, so I'm just baffled why my students are acting like this is the first time they've ever heard it.
I also hate to bring up the whole 'when you have a job...' thing but seriously! When you have a job, you just can't...not show up? Not do your work? That ends up with you being fired and not having a job and a way to pay your bills?? It's not fair how the world is structured, but this is what we've got right now and it's not going to change enough by the time you graduate. College can be training wheels for adulthood, but hoo boy will some of these kids have a rough transition to the 'real world'
I know! WHAT are these kids going to do? And you are seeing the ones are going to college. Imagine the skills that most of my not-college-bound kiddos are missing. It's terrifying.
Thank you for this essay! My partner teaches at a University and shares with me much of what you are experiencing. Wow- the downfall of society and education is tragic- financed and planned for failure. Hugs to you, Marissa, keep being you and keep going!
I'm so glad it resonated Robin! Unfortunately, overall. But it really is upsetting to constantly second guess whether or not I'm being a hard ass or if there's really a problem here. And they're paying for these classes that they're not attending! It's truly wild.
Yes, Shawn and I talk about this frequently. It is wild and "A Brave New World" - humans who care change the world for the better. Your patience and persistence guides you.
I am so sorry you had to deal with this! FWIW when I taught a state college composition class wayyyyyy long ago, it was kind of similar. COVID made it worse, but it's always been a thing. BUT it's so much different when you have students that care.
Thanks Tim, it really is!! It just makes it so much more fun and enjoyable. Hence why I might just stick with creative writing teaching from here on out.
Oh man. As a high school teacher (now and for the past 17 years), I believe all of this and apologize. I swear I'm teaching them to analyze instead of summarize and conduct graded discussions, but man...things are rough.
It's hard to discuss when you have an earbud in and TikTok is playing on loop. I have so many students assure me that they can listen to me and TikTok at the same time.
Now the trend in 6-12 education is to give students a 50% instead of a 0% if they don't do an assignment (therefore passing will always be possible). I hate this for all of us.
I hate throwing things onto middle/high school teachers cause y'all deal with ENOUGH. But some of this you've clearly taught, and they just haven't retained! There's NO WAY you haven't covered how to do a bibliography or how to capitalize things, so I'm just baffled why my students are acting like this is the first time they've ever heard it.
I also hate to bring up the whole 'when you have a job...' thing but seriously! When you have a job, you just can't...not show up? Not do your work? That ends up with you being fired and not having a job and a way to pay your bills?? It's not fair how the world is structured, but this is what we've got right now and it's not going to change enough by the time you graduate. College can be training wheels for adulthood, but hoo boy will some of these kids have a rough transition to the 'real world'
Also I hate that whole 50% instead of 0%. If you don't do something, you don't get credit! This shouldn't be debatable. *huffs in math*
I know! WHAT are these kids going to do? And you are seeing the ones are going to college. Imagine the skills that most of my not-college-bound kiddos are missing. It's terrifying.
Woof. I am literally shuddering over here.