Deadlines and such.

November 30, 2005

Tomorrow I will be the recipient of a 10 inch stack of term papers – about 38 altogether. A few students have already submitted theirs. (Bless their industrious little hearts!) Numerous students are emailing me with requests to review their work before the final submission. (The ones I’ve looked at are great; just a little bit of polish and they are good to go.) Many of them — students I’ve taught for a few years now — are confidently working on their own, and I know they will submit terrific work, as always.

And then there are the students who have obviously waited until the last minute to even start their research. As in, emailing me to clarify what exactly their paper topic is because they can’t recall what they told me it was a month ago.

These are the ones that suck the life-blood out of educators like me.

For despite my gruff posturing at the lecture podium about deadlines and discipline, I know from my own academic career as a semi-professional procrastinator that Term Paper week is a fucking nightmare. If you are having a bad semester (or several of them in a row) that one week can make you seriously consider never setting foot on a campus again if you manage to make it out alive this time.

These are the times that are emotionally exhausting for me as a teacher because I sincerely want all of my students to do well, all the time. I don’t understand why some of them won’t, no matter how much assistance and patience is extended to them. It’s mentally taxing to give the slackers a red-ass beat down at grading time, knowing that they fully deserve it, but that it’s probably going to noticeably lower their GPA.

I can’t figure out why I care more about the lackluster grades of a few, when obviously they don’t.

One of my colleagues told me he went through the same thing the first few years he was teaching, but it got easier to be an academic ball-breaker as time went by. He also said he was sure that he turned a few slackers around in life by demanding that they perform up to the high standards he held for his students or else. (By the way, that is what reformed me from my procrastinating ways. Thanks again, Mr. Hoffman, wherever you may be.)

After a while you develop the ability to discern which kids will respond to the demands and which ones won’t, I guess.

I’m not cut out to be an academic ball-breaker. I’m more of the “nurture the budding artist” studio-type teacher. I guess I’m just glad I realized this before I got too deep into the system and tried to make a career out of it.

Because honestly? Even sometimes when you are the teacher, Term Paper week can make you seriously consider never setting foot on a campus again if you manage to make it out alive this time.

That’s all for now. More again soon, my friends. ~ ~ ~

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Comments

3 Responses to “Deadlines and such.”

  1. Trent on December 1st, 2005 9:30 pm

    Have faith. There are some students who don’t really understand why exactly they are in school: they merely view it as an obstacle keeping them from what they really want to be doing. Sometimes you’re able to show them that what goes on in the classroom really does connect, but if you cannot, just remember that they’re simply on a path that’s not connected to yours. Just make the effort to reach them: that’s the greatest gift you can give all of your students.

  2. Z*lda on December 9th, 2005 6:53 pm

    Writing is a learned skill. Maybe your slacker students need to visit a tutoring center to brush up on the mechanics of writing. Is there any such help at Loras?

  3. Christine on December 9th, 2005 7:48 pm

    Yes, there is a Writing Lab which is open to all students and provides private tutoring as needed. There is also a Learning Disabilities Center for those who require special help as well.

    I think the real problem is that a few years ago Loras lowered its admission standards, and flung the doors open to everyone just so the school could stay afloat. (Private Catholic schools all over the country are having severe financial problems these days.) The result: there are kids attending college that have no business being there. A decade or so ago, they would be the same kids going to technical schools or doing non-skilled labor. (The kind of jobs that illegal immigrants are doing now.)

    My point is, not everyone is college material. Some kids don’t have the ability or the drive to learn. People don’t like to hear that, but it’s true.

    That’s life.

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