“So why aren’t your colleagues getting assigned these great students you have?” N asked after hearing three of my fellow profs discuss students for an hour.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, you work at the same school but all of your students are talented, amazing, creative, hard-working, and curious. Their students, though, are all lazy, stupid, soul-crushingly unprepared, and a total disgrace. How come you get such different students?”
I suspect they are the exact same students. This happens everywhere. We had a Norwegian here that routinely failed the same students that earned As in other classes simply because he was incapable of teaching students the material he tested them on. He failed over half of his 400 level students in a require class many of whom were otherwise straight A students a couple years in a row. Chalk another victory up for those ever so perfect Scandinavians.
Yes, they are the exact same students. 🙂 Life never fails to offer us confirmation of our favorite beliefs. 🙂
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I thought you were of the opinion that teaching was an easy thing to do, Otto.
Apparently for this Norwegian, that wasn’t the case.
Maybe if you were in an educational institution that insisted on even a modicum of experience before hiring people to turn loose on the student population…….
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I don’t know what you are talking agout. I had three years of expereince before coming to Africa and the Norwegian taught at Iowa State for many years before coming here. All my statement proves is that the Norwegian was incompetent. But, your anti-African racism is well noted.
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well, obviously, from your own account, teaching at Iowa State doesn’t guarantee a good teacher, and I mistook your own “teaching is easy” ethos with those of the the folks who approved of and hired this fellow in the first place.
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That’s a great way to select courses. I wish people used this criterion more when course – shopping.
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Its complicated… I had two classes this semester. In one I could not even convince most of the students to pick up their assignments with grades and feedback. Significant percentage of them just did not care. I included a detailed reminder in the final exam booklet of what I expect to see – and still some ignored it anyway… Some did not know it was an open book exam – despite it a) being written in the syllabus and b) being quite beneficial for them (or so they believe).
And in another class the atmosphere was significantly different. Much more motivation. Despite it being taught by the same old me… Not everything can be ascribed to the professor. Sometimes it is just a phase of the Moon, I guess.
Someone being a straight A student does not impress me at all. In some departments there is horrible grade inflation driven by the misguided belief in “customer satisfaction” or by more benevolent “trying to help our good students to get ahead of the competition” (for grad school, etc) …
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Of course, group dynamics is a powerful thing. But if somebody only gets horrible students all of the time, the reason just might lie outside of the students.
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“We’ve secretly given Clarissa’s students memory and performance-enhancing drugs, let’s watch what happens …”
[evil knowing grin] 🙂
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I’m guessing that the post was down voted by a colleague. Sorry, colleague! Please don’t get too sore! Come by and I’ll buy you a coffee!
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Bribery will get you everywhere … 🙂
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Some teachers can’t organize material for presentation in a manner enabling retention. Some teachers have such thick accents that they can be very difficult to understand. Some teachers talk in monotones, which is wonderful for sleep but little else. Expectations also matter; if teachers expect little, most likely that’s what they’ll get.
A teacher who expects much can get much; one who expects nothing will get nothing. True even if the people in the classes are the same.
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“At the end of this course, I expect you to be able to succeed at World Domination, so please adjust your expectations about your quality of work accordingly.” 🙂
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Some faculty teach the (imperfect) students they have and some teach the (perfect) students they wish they had.
It’s always better to teach the students you have. They may not be the best students ever, but you have succeeded if they know more and can do more after your course.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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