I am aware of two current situations right now where the hardline has been avoided to the detriment of all. It's a bit frustrating to me to watch this happen. Due to the nature of the circumstances I'm not going to delve to deeply into details, but I'll describe my impressions and the consequences.
In one case, I know a college student who remains in the University only because his professors keep cutting him breaks. This isn't to say he's uncapable because the opposite is true. He's probably one of the better minds I've met. Yet, he can't seem to go to class and do the work required. He has his reasons, but he's the kind of student everyone hates. He screws up two or three times a semester and because he's smart he begs and pleads and does whatever is necessary to make up for it and then the faculty member, not wanting to be a jerk, gives in.
In the other case, I know of an elementary student who is very bright, but has a very big anger problem. I suspect he has good reason to be angry, especially because his sister also has such a problem. These tend to be indicators of other problems. Anyway, this student has a problem playing nicely and has been restricted from doing things such as playing with basketballs. Recently, the restriction was lifted and he was playing with a teacher when they tied. He didn't like it so this relatively small elementary student attacked the teacher and probably caused a concussion. However, we'll never know because she didn't go to the doctor. This student is a menace to his fellows and teachers. Yet, the student's punishment since has been far from firm. He went on two field trips within a week of the attack. He even got to play with a ball because no one informed the person assigned to watch him at recess of the restriction. He did get punished for that, since he knew we was not supposed to. The teachers and administrators involved are being soft because they know that the real problem probably doesn't lie with him and they really hope for reformation.
There are two problems. First, these students are manipulators. They avoid, "forget", or try to dodge the real work, but they'll work awful hard to whine, beg, plead, and squirm their way out of the consequences. Giving in to a manipulator merely provides encouragement for the same behavior.
In the one case, we have an example of just laziness that the manipulator attempts to disguise as being above the fray by learning the facts but he's above doing the "busy work." In the other, we have a student that is escalating in violence in the same way that an abusive husband escalates violence toward his wife, but knows just the sweet words to get her back after each attack. The hardline is necessary to tell these folks, "No. Life doesn't work by your rules and it doesn't revolve around you." By softening up, we merely allow them to live in the fantasy that the world exists for their enjoyment. We also show them little love.
A child stretches the boundaries of the rules to see if his parents really care. If they care, they stop this behavior and prove they love him. If they don't, he gets whatever he wants, but his parents have shown they don't really care for or love him. In adults, this meaning is lessened but I believe the second problem is magnified.
The second issue is that this ultimately puts everyone else at risk. What about the other students near this violent kid? What if he acts against them next time? The attack that possibly caused a concussion on a teacher 3 times his size could break limbs or worse on a smaller student. Perhaps even more insidious is, what message does this send to the other students? Surely, other students know what has happened by now, but if not, they still see this student breaking rule after rule and still getting the benefits of not breaking the rules.
In the case of the college student, the students who work their butt off to get a B will be extremely frustrated if this student manages to weasle his way into the same grade. Softening on this behavior weakens the grades received from classes and ultimately weakens the degree itself. This student can claim that this is just busy work and that he's above doing it because he's non-conformist, but what else is a degree than a document stating you conformed to the doctrines set forth by the University? Busy work is an exercise in patience, if nothing else.
And just to be sure no one thinks that I'm being Holier-Than-Thou, let me tell you that I was this student. I am speaking of a specific incident happening now, but when I was a student, I once attempted to bribe an exam change from a TA with tickets to the Passion play I was playing Pilate in. Hows that for manipulation? Ultimately, I got a D in that case because I missed the final and the TA took the hardline on that case. I deserved a D even though Calculus II is a subject I had completely covered in high school and knew quite well. Thankfully, I was given the opportunity through the latter half of my undergraduate and all of my graduate degree to work without the manipulation ethic.
To those who manipulate: Stop. You are damaging the people around you and you are ultimately harming yourself. To those who would be manipulated: Caution. Mercy is a gift we should all hand out from time to time, but if you have a manipulator, show him no mercy because a swift, hard kick in his sorry butt is the kind of mercy he really needs.
A Bit Too Harsh
I think your analysis is a bit to harsh. Reasonably so, since you only really read about the "breaks" I hunt down and not the work that I do in the courses. (Sometimes a bit more significant, sometimes not.)
My scores in courses are adequate to be in the University, without any "breaks". They are poor by most standards, but cumulatively I've gotten well above a 2.0 (with the last couple semesters being quite worse than most).
It's not that I think I'm holy-than-thou for busy work at all. It's quite different. I just don't mind getting worse grades by not doing it. If it's the difference between an 'A' and a 'C', I'm usually cool with that.
All the classes that I've legimately ruined, I've failed. All of my "breaks", like the very gracious one my economics professor is giving me this semester, aren't to skip out on the busy work. He's just giving me the opportunity to hold my 'D' that I've earned--as a combination of my lack of busy work with pretty damn good exam scores--instead of failing since I missed the final. It means a lot to me, but it's not exactly handing the class over for free.
I also don't think that I would call any of the "breaks" that I've received manipulation. I haven't manipulated at all. I've just been completely honest and flat out asked for help. Usually the professors that we have here at Kansas State don't have a problem providing help for an honest student that just communicates with the professor when they are having problems.
It's not like I've been making up stories or anything to get better grades. I just flat out tell them that I screwed up, how I screwed up, and ask if it's possible for me to do anything to recover. Sometimes it's "no", sometimes it's "yes". However, even without any "breaks" my grades would certainly still be good enough for me to be a student here, barring the last couple semesters and the semester of my critical illness.
So while I don't necessarily disagree with your conclusion. I think it may reflect a different opinion of what a grade and what a degree means. After completing your degree you've come to value the conformity and "busy work" that is required for the degree as a necessary life lesson. That's fine, but I still believe that course grades should represent first and foremost a mastery of the material more than an ability to jump through hoops. Some professors agree with me, some agree with you, and most are somewhere in between.
Importantly, I think that in the better courses there is a strong correlation between the "busy work" and mastery of the material. Like the 'D' I'll probably get in this economics course. I know a lot about economics (much like you knew a lot about Calc 2 when you took it here), but because I didn't do the busy work I don't have a strong mastery over the specific concepts and theories taught in the course. My final is certainly going to reflect that.
In math courses it's critical, and my inability to complete the homework in the last two math courses I've taken (though math510 was because I didn't get it, math551 was because I didn't make time for the homework) has resulted in failing grades for those courses.
Like you found when you finished your courses, I'm starting to realize that the "busy work" isn't always just "busy work". But I don't come to the conclusion that it means that all "busy work" is important just because it's some kind of valued conformity. It just means that I'm finally getting to a point that I need to start trying in classes instead of just completely blowing them off and getting by on smarts and charm.
I think you'll be much less frustrated with the situation in the coming semesters as I continue to take courses that aren't just dumb busy work and are challenging. In fact, I think next semester I might take some pure "busy work" courses--and actually do the work--just so I can get the good grades and help out the GPA. I'm not too proud to pay some conformity to help my GPA, it's just that I have never cared at all about my GPA before. And by the end of my degree, I have this sinking sensation that I may, too, have learned the same life lesson about conformity and "busy work". I've just taken it much closer to the edge than you did.
Anyway, thanks for your post. Feel free to speak just as candidly to me about stuff like this in person along with documenting your opinions in your blog. I truely value your opinions as my boss, a similar student that's graduated, and as a friend.
Busy work and conformity
It requires a certain amount of humility to identify oneself as the person another's passive voice statements are referring to. Passive voice being one of those things that high school English teachers try to knock out of students' heads and technical writing professors reteach because it's useful when trying to avoid naming a thing when writing a report that can make someone look bad, but is otherwise difficult to read and makes a person sound wishy-washy. Anyway, I appreciate your candor.
I stand by my overall assessment still for two reasons: (1) it is the tendency in the postmodern world to gloss over differences and try to pretend we get along (i.e., let someone get away with things they shouldn't get away with) and I believe it best to critique these harmful tendencies, and (2) the extra information of your specifics doesn't really change the point I was trying to make in the general sense.
I will, however, in fairness retract a few statements that were made in haste. I must admit that I'm given over to the bad habit of exaggeration and under-qualifying my remarks. "He's the kind of student everyone hates." Perhaps not "everyone" and perhaps not "hates." However, it is particularly annoying to students who do the work to see students who have not get similar grades. This may not be the case here. It is also annoying to instructors to deal with students like this, because we simultaneously know the student could have gotten a good grade, but we cannot give them that grade. I hate giving bad grades and I think many instructors can relate to this feeling. Next, Travis has stated firmly that he doesn't do "whatever is necessary to make up for it." I would say that it is my perception that Travis does more to react to these kinds of mistakes than the average student.
As to the statements on conformity and busy work, I wish to state firmly that I do not give out busy work. I do not consider busy work to be efficacious in teaching. Some might perceive my work as busy work, but I do not assign work that I do not have some concept or practical result I expect the students to receive from it. My wife (a certified educator) has taught me this much about proper education. The definition I hold for "busy work" is work that serves no educational purpose, but may help to pad the grading system. As an instructor, this is repulsive.
However, the distinction I would make is that as a student, one doesn't generally have the luxury of picking and choosing one's assignments. If your instructor assigns what a student perceives to be busy work that student must be sure of two things. First, he better be sure it's really busy work and not practice that he needs. That is, it is easy to assume that it's busy work because that appeals to one's pride and dignity and desire to be lazy, a natural human trait. Second, even if it is busy work, refusing to do the work will generally have a negative affect on your end-grade. By doing busy work now, one can purchase some leeway in the future when you screw up on real work. Furthermore, I'll restate my point on virtue: Longsuffering (aka patience) is a virtue we should all learn and doing something one does not like is a form of practice. Finally, it should be noted that instructors are usually (but not always) willing to discuss the nature and importance of homeworks and exams. Most curriculum is changing in some way each semester and your comments can help shape the direction of these things---but not after the fact! You illegitimize any suggestion of "busy work" by avoiding it and complaining afterward.
Finally, this has turned from a discussion of "giving in" to a discussion on work ethic. I believe I am at odds with the work ethic presented. It is not, in my opinion, the right of the student to choose what work he is willing to do. Rather, this is the right of the instructor. The student who does not do the work becomes a nuisance to the instructor and his classmates. A certificate with a higher learning institute should mean that the receiving student is teachable, can work to learn on his own, is able to conform to the standards set forth by the institution and its faculty, has a well-rounded education in the humanities, mathematics, social and life sciences, and has a general background within the field the degree names. If the student isn't willing to demonstrate this on the terms set forth by the instructors, then what does the certificate mean? If the instructors are wrong, then the system must be changed. Rebellion against it doesn't affect this change, it merely creates more static in the measurements.
More Agreement
Actually, with your second expression of your feelings regarding busy work and stuff, I find myself agreeing more with you, only sticking on a part or two.
First, on the recognition of "busy work". I share your definition of busy work, nearly to the word. I'm nervous to suggest that any "busy work" would be completely absent educational value, because there's certainly a lesson to be learned in any activity, but a quick change of "no" to "little or no" would be adequite.
I also holistically agree that doing a little "busy work" when it is presented can provide some very valuable leeway when one reaches the end of the semester. I'm notorious for running right along the razor's edge in risk management in my about everything I do, and the addition of the foresight to provide myself this leeway would certainly be a virtue in my case. I'm sure it's some kind of pride and/or sloth that gets me at the middle portions of the semester when I think, "Eh, I don't need this assignment I'll be fine," in classes that I've even taken before. Right now I'm studying for an economics final that's been postponed until tomorrow morning, and my personal wellness and stress levels would be so much better if I just would have done the trivial homework assignments online during the semester. I'm learning this one hard, but I'm trying.
The only portion of your wise discussion I have to reject fully is the balance of power that you suggest when it comes to the "right" of the instructor to dictate what the student needs to accomplish to learn in contrast with the "right" of the student to choose what work he/she is willing to do. It is an unalienable right of every individual to do whatever they believe is in their best interest, always. This does not change just because of the existence of an instructor/student relationship.
I think that you have an instructor bias for a several reasons. First, you are a good instructor from what I've heard from students in your classes and from talking to you. Second, you're married to (from what I've heard from you) an exceptional instructor. And some of your close friends are also good or great instructors. I think this naturally biases you towards an expectation of instructors behaving in a very competent and benevolent fashion. Thankfully that's often true, but not always.
Second, there has to be a realization that the definition of "busy work" is, by necessity, a relative definition. Assignments that have educational value for some students will not have educational value for all students. I agree that the instructor designs a curriculum that (hopefully) contains only assignments, examinations, and projects that will benefit the students. In that ideal, it's just in poor judgement for a student to second guess an instructor and "redesign" a curriculum on the fly by omitting portions of the cirriculum.
But, importantly, I don't think that we exist in that ideal. Even in a good faith effort by the instructor, some of the assignments won't have any particular relevence to some of the students in the course. It's just unintellegent to expect every student to complete even the irrelevent assignments just because they were assigned. Sometimes I just have something better to do, and I'm willing to trade a portion of my grade in the course to do something more relevent to my life. (Be that coding on a personal project, participating in a charity like Relay for Life, or just partying with my friends.)
When crossing this line, I have taken a huge personal responsibility for my performance here at Kansas State as well as in the rest of my life. I am not saying that I am more intellegent or have better judgement than my instructors all of the time. But I do assert that no one else, tenured or otherwise, has the knowledge necessary to weigh and balance all of the different aspects of my life than I do. School is very important to me, but there are a lot of other things that are important to me as well.
I also freely admit that I often make mistakes when judging what to do with my time. I'm notorious for overextending myself and putting myself into difficult positions where I am unable to complete all of the tasks I agreed to (either explicitly or implicitly by enrolling). When these self inflicted positions present themselves, my grades are often the primary sufferer. Not because I don't feel that my classes are important, but because of all the things in my life, my grades and classes only effect myself. I find it much much easier to let my grades suffer than to let down friends or family when I find myself over extended.
As Dr. Wallentine has brought up to me in our meetings, I need to learn to say "no" more often so I can more responsibly follow through with all of the tasks before me. I'm working on it, I'm just an incredibly flawed person when it comes to the vice of being busy.
The second important part that I disagree with is your notion of changing curriculums. Curriculums are always changing, and hopefully for the better. However, just because a curriculum exists in it's current form doesn't mean that a student must suffer it's flaws before he can criticize it. In a most selfish form, the curriculum I care about most is the curriculum that I experience. If a curriculum is broken, I care most about getting the most learning I can from the course with the least amount of waste and misery as possible. I hope that it will get better for future students in the course, but that is not my primary concern. It's with myself. Then as an important secondary I hope to influence and improve the course so that those before me can get the most from the course, with the least amoutn of waste and misery as possible... hopefully without taking the grade hit that I did by ignoring the bad portions of the class.
I don't feel that this idea is well put, and I didn't really do it justice, but I've typed on this comment for a long time now... so I think I should get back to studying soon and I'm going to leave it as is. I'll just comment on a quote of yours:
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If the instructors are wrong, then the system must be changed. Rebellion against it doesn't affect this change, it merely creates more static in the measurements.
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I would contend that the huge variance in measures from instructor to instructor makes "rebellion" such as mine less than a rounding error. Just from year to year the measures by which a student is assessed vary in huge amounts, especially when instructors change. Embarrassingly, I've had three different instructors for math551 (and still one more to go) and even in a department that has a curriculum trivially standardized the difficulty level and grade spread were vastly different.
If you want the degree to honestly represent an ability to "conform", then the system is hopelessly destroyed. But not by difficult students like me, but instructors like ours that look at photographs on notecards and arbitarily assign grades.
I contend that a degree from a university represents the completion of an experience. A finishline on a lifestyle that includes a rigorous period of education both scholasticly and in "life lessons".
I'm slipping in the scholastic portion, but I'm trying to get better. I'm just not a good student. But I know that now, and I'm improving. I've learned a lot every semester, and I think that one of those lessons I'm struggling most with is the longsuffering you've described. Not really with patience as an interpretation, I've always been a very patient person. Instead, with the ability to stick with something and remain focused over a long period of time. I've always been talented or skilled enough to do what I want to do, at least when I can just sit down obsessively and pour everything into it for a week or two.
The virtue to remain focused on a task that's not always exciting, sometimes laborous, and longer than a couple weeks is something I have very little of. I know that it's a trait I'm missing though, and I'm working on it. But old habits die hard, and I'm a person very flawed.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I agree completely with what you're saying as a whole, I just don't really agree with the logic you took to get there. Hopefully your patience with me won't run out before I figure it out.
Clarification on that Last Comment
Oh, I should clarify. I holistically agree with the conclusion of your comments regarding longsuffering, not with your original post regarding "a swift kick in the butt is the kind of mercy he needs".
I'm not so naive that I need explicit punishment for my behavior to see how to improve myself. I've done nothing wrong. I haven't lied, cheated, or stolen anything. I could just do better, and I know it.
Travis Bradshaw
travis at tbradshaw.net