Tag: students

I’m Haunted by Mexicans

~ Clarissa ~ 26 Comments

Whenever my students are writing about Cubans, Uruguayans, Spaniards, Dominicans, Argentinians, Venezuelans, Colombians, etc., I always know that by the end of the essay, all these people will be mysteriously transformed into Mexicans. Often, I read statements like, “Jose Marti was an important Cuban thinker and the fighter for Cuban Independence. He loved his country of Mexico and worked hard to make it independent from Spain.”

The culmination of this trend was achieved in the passage I read today: “Jose Enrique Rodo, a thinker and educator from Uruguay, hated the United States and Mexico. Mexico was part of the United States, which is why he hated it. As a Mexican, he hated his own nation and wrote critically about it.”

Is there a way I can politely bring to my students’ attention the Earth-shattering news that not all Spanish-speakers are Mexican?

Babies, Bathtubs, and Essay Submissions

~ Clarissa ~ 10 Comments

Every new generation of young parents in my country had to participate in the ideological battle of whether to place a napkin in the bathtub while bathing the baby.

“Why do we need to do that?” new Moms and Dads moaned. “It’s messy, it’s annoying, and it makes absolutely no sense at all.”

“You have to do that!” Grandmas and Great-Grandmas responded. “I always did it, and so did my mother, and her mother. Everybody places a napkin at the bottom of the tub when bathing a baby, so you should do, too.”

The reason behind the napkin tradition is actually very simple. In the XIXth century, children in the country-side were bathed in wooden bathtubs. Those tubs were of low quality, and babies ran the risk of getting splinters into their backsides if no napkin was placed at the bottom of the tub. When the tubs made of metal and later of plastic appeared, people still retained the old tradition, even though it had no practical value any more.

I’ve had my own version of the bathtub fallacy. I’ve never allowed my students to submit their essays by email. I persecuted them with repetitive enjoinders never ever to submit anything to me by email. These enjoinders were delivered in a voice that made email submissions sound like some sort of a crime against humanity.

And you know why I did it? Because as an undergrad and then a grad student I had professors who flatly refused to accept email submissions. So I just imitated them unthinkingly without stopping to consider why I was doing it.

Then, I read on Jonathan’s blog that he accepts email submissions of student essays. Jonathan is an important role model for me, so I decided to conduct an experiment that would allow me to figure out whether I genuinely preferred paper submissions to email ones.

This week, students in both of my courses submitted their essays by email. And you know what? I loved it. This cut the weary work of essay grading at least in half. I can write very long comments, which is important to me because I work hard to improve the way my students write. I didn’t have to try to fit my comments on the small paper margins any more. Also, I think students are now more likely to read my comments because they don’t need to decipher my imperfect handwriting. And, of course, I type faster than I write.

Finally, I have been able to realize that there is no actual need for the napkin in this metaphorical bathtub. Thank you, Jonathan!

Teaching the Art of Email Writing

~ Clarissa ~ 18 Comments

I hate babying my students or being preachy with them. I also don’t want to come off as condescending. However, I feel that there is an urgent need for me to teach the so-called computer generation how to write an email. I received about a dozen emails in the past three weeks that went as follows:

i need to meet when can i come by your office

And this was the extent of the email. No greeting, no signature. Except one student who signed the email with “XOXO.” Which was not extremely helpful in allowing me to deduce who was writing to me.  No punctuation either.

So this is what I’m planning to say:

Dear students! It is a good idea to begin an email with greeting a person you are writing to. “Hi” is better than no greeting at all. “Hi professor” is even better than that. And “Hi Professor Clarissa” is the best version of all because it demonstrates that you took the trouble of learning the name of the person you are addressing.

Then, it’s a good idea to explain who you are. Example, “I’m your student in the course ABC.” I usually get over a hundred work-related emails per day, and it’s hard for me to place a person immediately.

After that, you say what you need to say and then – and this is very important – sign the email. With your first and last name. 

I can’t even remember the last time I got this kind of an email from a student.

I feel like a nursery teacher right now.

You Want Empathy? I’ll Give You Empathy!

~ Clarissa ~ 15 Comments

We all remember that I teach at a state university in an economically blighted area of the US, right? And that our students get offered full-time jobs that pay $11,000 per year after they graduate? And that our students work 2 – 3 part-time jobs while going to college, right?

A student of mine writes:

The government of our country is oppressive towards the rich people. It treats them unfailry by asking them to pay more than their fair share in taxes.

And you say empathy is dead in this country.

P.S. I have just been visited by a horrible suspicion. Is it possible that the student thinks I’m rich and is trying to get me to like them in this inventive manner?

Greek

~ Clarissa ~ 16 Comments

A student comes up to me and says, “I’m sorry, I’m Greek, which means I need you to fill out a form saying how many absences I’ve had.”

“Oh my God,” I think. “This is horrible. I had no idea that Greek students were discriminated against on our campus!”

“Are you sure about this?” I ask the student, preparing to unleash my fury on the haters of Greece at our university.

“Yes,” he says and hands me a paper that bears the name of his fraternity.

During an Exam

~ Clarissa ~ 5 Comments

When I first saw a student squint at his crotch, touch it and mouth “What?” at it during the midterm exam, I was disturbed.

Then I realized, to my great relief, that his problem was not physiological but, rather, intellectual.

Happy Teaching Experience

~ Clarissa ~ 10 Comments

My students made me very happy today. For one, they had quite a bit of knowledge about World War I, which was very refreshing.

And then, a student asked me if I could give a few names of Modernist writers who wrote in English. I love questions that allow me to go off on my favorite tangents.

During the entire lecture, students were staring at me with those huge eyes that were starved for knowledge. At least, most of them were. They were just imbibing everything I said with incredible eagerness to learn more. Believe me, after 21 years of teaching, I can really tell when they stare vacantly and when they stare with interest.

Of course, you have to be dead not to wake up when I lecture about Modernism. I’m seriously passionate about the subject. Next week, we will talk about the Mexican revolution, and I know I won’t be able to muster the same level of enthusiasm for it.

Oh, I love my students.

Should the Anti-Affirmative Action Bake Sale Be Banned?

~ Clarissa ~ 13 Comments

Let me preface this by saying that I’m a great believer in affirmative action and that I consider the students at UC Berkeley who tried to organize a bake sale protesting the affirmative action to be silly, ignorant fools. However, the folks who believe the event should be prevented from taking place are also silly, ignorant fools.

In case you haven’t been following the story, here is what happened:

UC Berkeley student senators voted Sunday to condemn discriminatory behavior on campus – even if done in satire – in response to a Republican student group’s plans for an “Increase Diversity Bake Sale,” with pastries labeled according to race and gender. . .

The Republicans’ posting describes five price levels for their bake sale, with pastries described as “White/Caucasian” going for $2, “Asian/American American” for $1.50, “Latino/Hispanic” for $1, “Black/African American” for 75 cents, and “Native American” for a quarter. A 25-cent discount is offered for women. “If you don’t come, you’re a racist,” the post declares.

Hundreds of students opposed the bake sale on Facebook, and many sent letters of complaint to campus administrators. Alfredo Mireles, Jr., a UCSF nursing student who sits on UC’s Board of Regents, issued a statement condemning “a common stunt performed by college Republican groups to protest affirmative action policies.”

Of course, this is nothing but an ignorant stunt. What is disturbing, however, is how quickly the students who are unhappy with it turn to the parental figures of authority to protect them from ideas they don’t like. College is the first taste of adulthood many students experience. It is sad to see that many of them are not ready for the opportunity to live like independent adults and still try to recruit Mommy and Daddy figures to make the bad guys stop saying unpleasant, “hurtful” things.

The adult thing to do would be for the dissenting students to boycott the bake sale (and what brings the point across better than having nobody attend the event?), to organize a competing event at the same time that would draw audiences away from the anti-affirmative action stunt, start a debate on the issue, engage their peers intellectually, etc.

It is also very sad that students seem to think that the only speech worth protecting is the one they agree with. It’s hard to engage with ideas that bother you intellectually. Arguing, debating, organizing alternative events – who needs all that when you can just run to the authorities and complain that somebody’s freedom of expression is hurting your feelings?