1/25/08-The greater good professor

I almost feel as if what we are discussing right now in 621 will play a major component in what this blog will contain. This for example, this one will be reminiscing over topics we have discussed in that class.

The other day in 110, we in class talked about teachers and professors who used reverse psychology on us. You know them. The teachers who readily announced your stupidity, ineptitude, or made out right claims of how you will progress no further than high school and achieve, at best, a bottom rung job with no hope for advancement or self respect? Maybe they even held the worst 7th grade test you ever took up for the class as an example of what not to do with a few poignant jabs at your 13 year old intelligence.

As a class we talked about them and their affects on us. One girl’s husband had one such principle and when her husband mailed him a copy of his bachelor’s degree, the principle hung it in his office. One girl who was advised to be held back by her second grade teacher due to illiteracy sent her copies of all the editorials she had featured in a newspaper. The teacher has since kept them in a scrap book. I don’t feel all teachers who treat a student in such a way can have this grand altruistic motive hidden behind their scorn and discontent, but I find it amazing how it works in some cases. These students, me among them, have been subject to this type of method and we have come out on the better end of I feel. The only drawback is that despite our awareness the teacher acted in our best interest, we still hate them and will not cry at their funerals.

Which leads me into 621 discussions….or maybe questions I want answered. Why are we so afraid of telling our students that they simply are not up to snuff in areas and need to get better? And I do not mean telling them altogether, but why are we so afraid of students not liking us or the subject of English? Yes, all us will agree we are not there to be their friends, but how many of us will actually go so far as to knowingly make them hate us for their own benefit?

I know this sounds somewhat harsh and elitist, but I feel the whole academic setting is inherently elitist. We unconsciously give the professor/teacher/instructor the authority of the class and a general consensus he/she knows more about the subject than us and can help us learn more about it. That is not to say the authority figure can’t learn from his/her students (I can’t even begin to estimate how much I have learned from my own) but in regards to the subject matter of the class, it is somewhat unspoken the professor/teacher/instructor has a greater awareness of the topic.

I for one could not treat a student in such a way as the greater good professor. Not because I am worried about them hating me, but because I have been subject to it on a few occasions, I could not send one of my students through that kind of anger and shame. But this does not prevent me from telling my students that they can get better or that they did not live up to their potential (or what I perceive to be their potential.

I’ll cut this now because this is long and I don’t think anyone is going to read it for that reason. It may prompt some discussion…or hatred…maybe even some carnal violence.