April 26, 2010
I know it’s time for the semester to be over; I’ve started to notice irritating little things: the note at the bottom of the exam which says, plaintively, “I studied all the wrong things.” How is that possible? The material was Hellenistic Civilization; the exam was on Hellenistic Civilization– did you study French? Were you out in the woods birdwatching? Because I get no peace from students unless I specify the number of pages to a paper, I do specify, and then EVERY SINGLE ONE, as though it were something they thought of by themselves, will ask a variation on, “Well, do you REALLY want thirteen pages? I mean, if I’m done in 10 pages, should I just bullshit the rest?” Then there’s the evergreen, “What can I do to do better on my exams?” The answer is, “Have the right answers.” But they affect to think there’s a secret code they should have put at the top of their papers, JMJ, or some way they should have held their pens during the exam. And what I hate with ever increasing hatred is the student who, though never asking about or commenting on any aspect of the subject matter, will go all Jesuitical concerning the exam, demanding particulars, wanting the specific weight and import of each question, whining for a study guide. What is the syllabus but a study guide? And what if I should neglect to lead them step by step through territory they should be discovering by themselves? It is a generation of learned helplessness. And now that’s out of my system–
1 comment:
One of my proudest accomplishments of my college career is an (alternate) assignment I did for you my very first semester. Instead of writing a paper about poetry, I wrote poetry - the woman's response to various poems written about women throughout the ages, from the Earl of Rochester to William Carlos Williams. I learned more in your allowing me to take that assignment where I might than I ever would have writing yet another research paper.
I'm not quite sure I have a point, except to say that even those of us who are sometimes guilty of freaking out about wanting to succeed in "the system" of grades and page numbers and all also enjoy academic freedom and encouragement. Or something.
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