My first English composition class was too nice to me. They all cared about their academic careers, knew where they wanted to go, and had no problem putting in the work to get there. No fussy children before the dinner table, these students happily gobbled up all their broccoli and even asked for seconds before I offered dessert. Although they did not prepare me for the challenges of less motivated students, they firmly established within me a love for the art of educating that no classroom challenge could tear from me.
It fell to my second class to test that love. Not only did students take a casual approach to when and whether or not they came to class, one actually stood up in a huff in the middle of a grammar lesson and walked out the door without a word. Unsurprisingly, she did not pass the class. What did surprise me was that she did not seem to recognize that it was her money she wasted by doing so. That was also the class where I got the shock of seeing several students commit plagiarism. Did my students not realize that if they do not put in the work themselves, their poor English skills will betray them in all future writing endeavors? It seemed to me like signing up to a gym and then asking someone else to do sit-ups for you, expecting that to somehow sculpt your abs by proxy.
From this second class, I learned that my role as an educator is not only to assist my students with their writing but also with their understanding of what it means to be a student. For too many years, it is possible to get shoved through the public school system as a student under protest. School remains just some building where you have to sit for certain hours of the day, and whether or not you do the work asked of you, the school day always ends. It is sometimes difficult for students to make a connection between what instructors ask of them in the classroom and what waits for them in the world outside. A good instructor must offer not only lessons in a given subject but also perspective.
I began my next class by having my students answering the following questions as an ice-breaker exercise:
- Where are you from? What brought you here?
- What is your major? What do you hope to accomplish with it?
- What known obstacles stand between you and academic success? How do you plan to overcome them? Who is counting on you to succeed?
- What is something you do well? How did you develop your skill in it?
- What is something that is unusual or special about you?
Before having students present their answers (typically in small groups), I answer these questions myself. That is when I tell my classes that I stand before them as a former college drop-out. With this, I let them know I understand how it is possible to lose confidence in what they are doing in school and what they want to get from it; and I share with them how it is possible to overcome that to reach whatever level of success they strive for. If they want a real education, they can make it happen. If they do not, they are wasting their own time and money.
As much as I want to build their confidence in their ability to reach any height, I do not believe in softening that climb. In my classroom, there is no excused absence, tardiness, or late assignment. All of these come with penalties of some degree to remind them that even good intentions will not do the work for them. When real life disasters strike, a student who stays on top of assignments will find that a modest penalty, earned through no fault of his or her own, will not destroy sound academic standing.
Some may say this is not fair, and that is when I open for them a video from National Geographic Explorer about baby sea turtles first hatching and struggling toward the ocean. Not all make it, and this video does not hold back in displaying the violence of various predators that keep the babies from the safety of the sea. I show this to my students to remind them that, when it comes to their education, they are on their own, succeeding or failing by their own efforts. That may appear frightening at first, but I believe it to be ultimately empowering. The student who knows that the future is his or her own to carve is the one who will put forth the effort to do so, and not matter what extraordinary circumstances befall, it is the effort that makes and keeps fortunes in the end.
