Spring semester has ended. The finals are graded and now students are starting to see how things ended up. For my students, those that stayed determined and put forth solid effort, passing the class was never in doubt. However, every semester, I always end up with a conversation from some student who has only, here at the end of the term, figured out that their grade is not good. In fact, what they have determined is that they are probably going to fail.
Well, I am not the only one. Check out this short video from my friend Brian on this same topic.
[simfany]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grX8fk6yM1c[/simfany]
This term alone I had seven different people come to me at a time that was far too late to really do anything about it. A few were online and one emailed me in the last 3 days of class. Somehow it had never entered the mind that they must actually do all of the required work of the class. This particular student had failed to contribute to 4 of the 7 discussions and those missing points (along with other missing assignments) were the proverbial “missing link” between their current failing grade and a passing one.
So, I asked this person the following question—“why didn’t you care sooner?”
Well, of course, this student had no real answer. They hedged and hemmed and wondered why the discussions were so important. Still, when the dust had settled, it was clear that there was no answer other than “I simply didn’t care enough to pay attention.”
Actually, what the student was really saying was “I never dreamed that you would actually hold me accountable and enforce consequences on my actions; in every other phase of life, when something goes wrong I can just fix it regardless of any deadlines or really expectations. I just get my way all the time.”
If that thought process was only on one student, or maybe one type of student (say, upper middle class kid or inner city student), then maybe I wouldn’t be as worried. However, I see this attitude in every student; worse, I see it in far too many of my peers. Oh, of course, they don’t treat their students that way—with them they have fairly strict rules—but when it comes to following College policy or having to answer to rules set by the Dean or Campus President….well, then, that same disbelieving attitude appears. “You would never actually hold me accountable or attempt to tell me what to do, would you?”
Back to the student…the lesson for the day….you must care sooner!! When you have something that is very important to you….say perhaps a bill to pay that will keep your electricity on or maybe you have (like my students) a class you must pass to keep your scholarship or need in order to graduate, then you must care about it sooner. You need to put your very best effort forward from the start.
The day after another student came to my office lamenting about what will be a failing grade, I told my other students about it (name withheld of course). I told them that if I had one last class to graduate, then NOTHING would ever get in my way on that class. I would put everything else BEHIND succeeding in the class.
Somehow, we must reclaim this work ethic. Our country is desperate for citizens who understand this simple truth.