New Comments from Students

So, today I heard the typical question at this time of the year. Quarter grades were just released. So, the question of the day was "How can I raise my grade?" I am amazed at how often they don't want to hear the answer! I say, "Do all your homework, classwork and do better on quizzes." They say, "No, what can I do now?" Are they thinking that if they click their heels together 3 times and bat their little eyelashes that the grade will magically change? It takes more than 5 minutes to make up for 11 weeks of minimal effort.

The other comment/question was, "Why did you put [choose a comment] on my report card?" Could it be because that is a true statement? The sense of entitlement these students show saddens me. I don't like to say "back when I was a kid" because that can be said by just about every generation, and some of the changes are good, some bad. BUT, education needs to change. We need smaller class sizes, more one-on-one work with students, and less "cookie cutter" styles. Not all students learn the same way, and not all ways are effective with students. Even in my own class, I think lecture is not the best method, but based on 33-36 students per class, it is the one method that reaches more students at a time. I would rather have 3 or 4 sitting around a table working together and me coming along side to encourage and reinforce understanding. THAT is the reason I like charter schools and homeschooling.

Rudeness

I experienced one of the rudest actions on Wednesday in one of my classes. Here's the scoop:

My students were doing a "labette", not a full fledged lab, but one that still required some manipulating of solutions and lots of thought. One of the boys didn't notice that his paper was under one of the plastic cups we were using for beakers. As he pulled it towards him, the cup tumped over, spilling its contents onto the lab bench and a few papers. The 3 students (2 girls, 1 boy) all scrambled to move their papers, and get them dry, but a few papers were wet. They did not move their folders. I was helping them with how to do a calculation so none of them "jumped" to get it wiped up.

A few moments later, they noticed that one of the girls folders was now wet from the spill as the liquid spread across the table. This young lady then began yelling at the boy for not cleaning up his spill. (Recall that none of the 3 of them made any effort to clean.) I told them all to calm down and asked the boy to get a few paper towels and get it cleaned up. The spill was rectified and I thought all was well. I was wrong.

A few minutes later, I was in their area again, and noticed the girl with the wet folder holding a cup of water and preparing to pour it on the boy's paper while he is away doing something else. "WOAH WOAH WOAH" says the teacher. "What are you doing?" She looks sheepish at the teacher. Teacher says "That's not very nice." Her reply? "He didn't clean it up!" So teacher says, it was an accident that none of you cleaned up. It's done, move on. Then the coup de grace...

I looked over a few minutes later, right as the bell is about to ring, and see the boy drying off his paper. I just about lost it. "Did you pour water on his paper? Yeah, that's mature. That is one of the rudest things I have ever seen. You repay an accident with ill-will? How Rude. Just Rude. I can't believe you would do that." Bell rings.

It gets worse.

She leaves, never apologizing, never showing any remorse. The other girl in the group is still there and I say again, "That was so rude. I am so sorry [student] that she did that." The other girl says... Are you ready? This is sad...

"It's not like he didn't deserve it."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? YOU ARE JUSTIFYING THIS BEHAVIOR BECAUSE "He deserved it?" Unreal.

Please tell me that students are not like this around the USA. Please tell me that accidents are not treated with malice and contempt. Please tell me that the youth of today are able to think through things and understand how to make the world a better place.

Lack of Critical Thinking Skills

I teach High School Chemistry. It never ceases to amaze me how little the students are able to solve a problem logically. Instead of thinking through the entire process, they only want to find the "Right Answer".

Currently we are doing gas laws, so I tell them to try and imagine a situation and go from there. However, when I look at their explanation, it often makes no sense. Things such as "When the pressure is held constant, the pressure increases." Are you kidding me?

I know I am not the smartest guy ever, and wasn't always the smartest when I was in high school, but I am pretty sure I knew how to think.