Teaching

A PostSecret from 3/13/11:

     A saying I heard my dad utter multiple times throughout my youth (though I can't remember the context): "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."

     Its a rather familiar idiom and I think it applies to students as well.  You can present the students with the information they need, but you can't make them learn it.  There are some weeks that I feel my students are completely incompetent and then there are weeks, like this one so far, that I think they're doing alright.  This week my students have two exams and an assignment due.  This is only one of their classes.  There is so much crammed down a college student's throat that its no wonder that even the smart ones will sometimes come off as idiots.  I catch myself from time to time thinking, "Well when I was an undergrad we were smarter than these students..." etc, which is complete bullocks because when I was an undergrad I was in the same situation they are.  I hated my introductory biology classes and nearly jumped ship - it was only when I got my hands on upper level classes that I rediscovered my joy for it.

     The other side to this is that some students don't really want to learn.  They came to college because its the expected next step for most high school students these days.  Its sometimes hard to excel at something if you really don't want to be doing it.  These students bother me.  I understand that they're doing what is expected of them, but I sometimes wish that they'd go into the work force for awhile before coming to college.  Hopefully it would give them some perspective as to what they want to do in the long run - they may work harder and appreciate what they're learning more.  I must admit to being somewhat hypocritical in this case.  I came to grad school partially because it was the next thing to do.  I speak from experience when I say that its hard to finish something if your heart isn't completely in it.  The statements above apply to both undergraduate and graduate school.  I maybe should have waited another year or so before getting a master's degree, but since I've come this far I'm going to finish.  I'm going to do my best to finish well.