The Truth About Students

I don't like to say much about students here, because that's just not cool. But, here's an exception. Often, as I float around the shared office at campus, I hear my colleagues talking about their students. Sadly, a lot of what's being said isn't complimentary. Our students, though college students, are still more teenagers than grown ups and it shows through in a variety of behaviors which are largely related to a "But what do you mean I fail the class if I don't do any of the work?" kind of way. It's the kind of thing that can wear on a person and there's often a lot of venting. I've had my own share of these students, too.

However, I try and avoid the bitch sessions because they don't solve anything and the more we dwell, well, the more we dwell. Now, I'm going to skip the long spiel about human behavior and the effect of said bitch sessions. Yes, we have students who, simply, don't belong in college. Yes, we have students who engage in all kinds of obnoxious behaviors. But, we have even more students who are non-issues and plenty who are pleasant surprises. Without further ado, here's my faith in humanity:

A while back, there was an incident in class where two students nearly got in fist fight. Fast forward to last week when they started a new project. I gave the class the option to work in groups and the two guys who almost fought each other teamed up as part of a group. Now, one of the two is having issues with the class. Issues like not showing up or doing the work. So, on the day of the group presentations, I wasn't exactly surprised when he was not in class. I was ready to give him a zero for the presentation grade, but because of the way I've structured my groups, it wasn't my decision, it was his group's. At the end of class, I talked to them and said they could choose between him getting a zero, half the group grade, or the full group grade and that I'd abide by their decision. After asking if this student could do something to replace the presentation, (no), they decided half credit.

Yesterday, the student was in class again. The guy he almost got in a fight with waved me over for a quiet word. "The reason he wasn't here was 'cause his mom was in the hospital. We decided we want to give him full credit." I looked to the other group member, who nodded. So, he'll get full credit for a presentation he wasn't present for, because that's what his group wants.

Sometimes, in the shared office, there's a lot of whinging about students. I rarely join in. Because, even though these students are still more teenagers than they are adults, most of them are people I'm glad to know.