On Pedagogy and Growing Up

In spite of my student-unfriendly posts this week, I actually do like teaching. But I haven't liked teaching this semester. And I think that I've finally figured out why:

I don't like the students in my classes this semester.

The basic reason that I don't like them is that they don't want to learn. The evidence:

Low class participation. So low, in fact, that I've taken to calling on individuals.

High absenteeism. My attendance policy is the same as the professor for whom I'm filling in: each student is given three "free" absences, and every absence thereafter will result in a 2% deduction from the final grade. But in practically every class this semester, someone has been absent (case in point: I only had 5 out of 12 students in one class yesterday). I understand that students have extra-curricular commitments, job interviews, illnesses, etc., but these don't account for the absenteeism. Some students have missed one-third to one-half of the classes because they slept through (or didn't set) their alarm (particularly in my 10:30 a.m. class).

High levels of whining. Things that students have literally commented on:

• Why do we have to take notes in class? Why can't you just put your notes on the web so that we don't have to write things down?
• Instead of telling us all the interpretive options of the Good Book and asking us which interpretation seems best, why can't you just tell us what it says? (after I emphasized repeatedly that I require them to think)
• It was too hard to cram two months' of material into our heads for the mid-term (after I warned them that they needed to be reviewing each week).
• If I gave a partially correct answer on the mid-term, why didn't I receive full marks for my answer? (I'm still baffled by the logic of the multiple students who asked me this.)
  

Ultimately, I suppose, the underlying problem is one of expectations: my students expect me to spoon-feed information to them and to hold their hands. I, on the other hand, expect them to think and to behave like responsible young adults.

sigh

Well, at least there are only five more weeks of classes.