12-30-2007, 09:14 PM
[quote MacMagus]You're showing a disturbing trend of disdain and distrust for students and anything that promotes their rights or interests.
MacMagus, I don't believe in unlimited "student rights", no more than I believe in unlimited "professor rights". Students do have rights, but I don't believe that unlimited anonymous free speech about their profs is among them. When I myself was a student, I would never have conceived of some of the behavior that my students have exhibited toward me. (There does seem to have been a total shift toward student "consumerism", which did not exist when I was in school.) It's not just merely that I wouldn't have done these things, it's that I wouldn't have had the sense of entitlement that students apparently now feel-- not to be insulting, but I would have known my place, and known that there is a reason the professor was the professor and I was only the student... I respected the professors for being professors.
It's true, I don't trust students' judgments in these sorts of things-- reading their comments, it's hard to believe they would say such things. I also have to remind myself that the students who are likely to say such things are the ones who feel most strongly negative, and do not necessarily represent the majority.
[quote MacMagus]'m not attempting to be provocative or insulting when I write this and I don't need a reply: Are you sure that you're in the right profession?
Though I have my doubts that you intended that not to be provocative or insulting, I will answer it honestly anyway:
Good question. I do wonder what students expect these days. It seems what they expect is an easy "A". Reading more, I learned that (not surprisingly) positive ratings on such websites correlate with easy grading.
All I can say to you on this point is -- wait until you are in my position, before you judge me... it is very easy to criticize, very hard to do better yourself!
MacMagus, I don't believe in unlimited "student rights", no more than I believe in unlimited "professor rights". Students do have rights, but I don't believe that unlimited anonymous free speech about their profs is among them. When I myself was a student, I would never have conceived of some of the behavior that my students have exhibited toward me. (There does seem to have been a total shift toward student "consumerism", which did not exist when I was in school.) It's not just merely that I wouldn't have done these things, it's that I wouldn't have had the sense of entitlement that students apparently now feel-- not to be insulting, but I would have known my place, and known that there is a reason the professor was the professor and I was only the student... I respected the professors for being professors.
It's true, I don't trust students' judgments in these sorts of things-- reading their comments, it's hard to believe they would say such things. I also have to remind myself that the students who are likely to say such things are the ones who feel most strongly negative, and do not necessarily represent the majority.
[quote MacMagus]'m not attempting to be provocative or insulting when I write this and I don't need a reply: Are you sure that you're in the right profession?
Though I have my doubts that you intended that not to be provocative or insulting, I will answer it honestly anyway:
Good question. I do wonder what students expect these days. It seems what they expect is an easy "A". Reading more, I learned that (not surprisingly) positive ratings on such websites correlate with easy grading.
All I can say to you on this point is -- wait until you are in my position, before you judge me... it is very easy to criticize, very hard to do better yourself!