If you’ve been around a college campus over the past 6 or 7 years, then you’ve almost certainly heard a lot of rot about “millennials,” or “Generation Y.” I’ve written before that it’s a mistake to put too much emphasis on these ideas–not all undergrads are “digital natives” (whatever that bizarre metaphor is supposed to connote), for one thing.
Skepticism about such overeager claims is warranted, as is any marketing-friendly claim about tens of millions of people. But this winter I’ve had at least 4 conversations with faculty members at various institutions (not mine!) that have involved claims that today’s undergraduates are fundamentally unteachable, and are more likely to snap back at professors’ criticisms than ever before.
There’s no easy way to say this, but: When you find yourself making such a claim about your students, then . . . it’s not them. It’s you.
I’m not saying that students, like proverbial customers, are always right, or that you *must* completely change your teaching to one particular style. (Really, how often does ProfHacker tell you to do something? Besides listen to The Hold Steady?)
But you do need to recognize that they can’t always be wrong–or, perhaps more precisely, if your fundamental assumption about them is that they’re unteachable, then that becomes self-fulfilling.
So, that’s a resolution for the new semester: To tolerate a lot less complaining about these kids today, and to recognize when I’m just being lazy in thinking about students who now are almost twenty years younger than me.*
(Ironically, I’m not unsympathetic to some of Mark Bauerlein’s concerns about large-scale patterns of behavior. Sigh.)
Image by Flickr user debaird™ / CC licensed
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As I finish my syllabus for tomorrow, I replay Monty Python’s Four Yorkshiremen routine, just to remind myself that we always had it harder than those kids today.
Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo
Good postI especially agree with the notion of the self fulfilling prophecy in terms of how we perceive our students. Another thing to keep in mind is that when we teach the same way over and over and over, semester after semester, the students can perceive a lack of enthusiasm in our presentation. If we can’t get excited about the material, how can we expect them to?
One thing that is true is that the average student is different than us, faculty. I am sure that this has always been the case.
Today’s students do seem different than the students when I started teaching 20 years ago. For example, they don’t accept things as easily, the reason why needs to be explained. (Not exactly snap at everything we do, but there is a change.) I also think they just aren’t used to lecture when they get to college. (You either have to teach them about taking notes in a lecture or go in another direction.) But I don’t buy the idea that they are just worse than 20 or 30 years ago.
We have to adjust to them, but it is hard.
What’s the problem with students wondering about the “why” of things? To me, this seems like either:
A) intellectual curiosity we’d want to encourage (especially if it’s in terms of students wanting the theory behind the practice–which always enhanced my learning overall), or
B) seeking to understand the rationale behind your teaching practices (which I am always glad to explain, because I don’t see any reason to hide such a thing).
Both seem like good things to me.
Didn’t say it was bad. Just a change. And I agree with you that it is potentially a good thing. I have lots of pre-service teachers and they are often interested in the whys you mention.
At times it comes from another place: why do we have to do assignments that push me beyond my comfort level? Those are harder, but I try to answer them as if they were asking for the reasons you note. These are the students Robert Wolff mentions below.
BW, now I understand better what you’re saying… I think I read a tone into it that wasn’t there.
I can’t help but think that students like the ones Robert Wolff discusses are simply being pragmatic. Love of knowledge is great, and I fully endorse it, but what these people are concerned about–quite understandably–is their future paychecks. I suppose it’s up to us to show them that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
In the spring of my first year at my current institution, I attended an honors ceremony, recognizing the best student from each department. I was appalled to overhear a senior colleague from another department tell a new assistant professor that “almost all students these days are terrible, but a few are worth our time.” I agree heartily with Jason’s sentiment that claims like these say much more about us then they do about them. But in the nearly twenty years that I’ve taught college classes, I have detected a subtle change in attitudes toward the degree. If I ask a group of first year students now why they are attending college, they generally respond with either “to get a degree” or “to get a job.” To my mind, they do not say — as much as they once did — that they are in college to learn things. More of my students bring a certain joylessness to the classroom that I have to break down. Now, in fairness, I represent one data point only. I did change locations from the Upper Midwest (where I spent grad school) to the Northeast about fifteen years ago, so perhaps it’s a regional thing. My teaching evals are very strong, so I don’t think that my classroom talents have just gone to hell. I do think that many students have no idea why they’re in my classes.
I’ve only been teaching for a year, but I definitely see this attitude. Many of my students will come right out and say “I am here to get a job/for the degree.” Nothing is mentioned about learning, enlightenment, etc. I understand in an economic down turn, students will have this attitude more than usual, but this has been creeping up since back when I was an undergrad…
I think there is a generational change, because I’ve seen similar patterns at several different institutes over the past few years, and because I don’t see such behaviors in my older students. (One advantage about teaching at a college with a mixed-age cohort!) But I won’t say that these are bad behaviors; just different.
What I’ve noticed is students who are less willing to challenge authority or to assert their own opinions, not more; students who like collaborative work but who don’t like to lead; students who are more concerned with “will this be on the test” and less with “how do I earn an A”; students who are even more reluctant to offer substantive critique of their peers’ work, even if it’s framed in the context of “being helpful”. If I had to sum them up, I’d say that they care a lot about what other people think of them, and are reluctant to rock the boat by expressing different opinions – even when they are correct.
My current batch of students is also rather reluctant to work independently – there’s a tendency among them to wait for the lecture to explain the textbook to them, and they want the test questions ahead of time – but I think that’s institutional, not generational. Adapting to them has been hard, but there are more of them than me. If I try to impose expectations on them that I brought from other institutions, we all get frustrated.
One thing that I think would be well to keep in mind is that “adapting to students’ needs” isn’t the same as “rejecting one’s standards.” I hold my students to the same high standards I’ve always done… but the way I get them to the point where they can meet them has changed substantially.
While we can’t ignore the real problems affecting student behavior in class, your central advice is right on point: we need to “look in the mirror” (my words, not yours). It’s an understandable function of human nature to point the finger (literally) at the other person. But even a little bit of self-reflection would be helpful for the “haters” (again, my word, not yours) before they project their own frustrations onto their students. Thanks for prompting me to think more about this on my pedagogy blog.
I can honestly say that a big reason I don’t spend a lot of time around my graduate school cohort (or those before me and those after me) is that so many of them seem so insistent that “kids these days” (and especially those at my school) are “unteachable” or “bad students” or “not worth my time.” A lot of that comes from fear, self-doubt, a desire to “join the club” and mimic the actions of their mentors or advisors. But I sat down and looked at my rosters since I’ve been here, and 96% of the students I’ve had in my classes were earnest, tried hard, listened, asked questions, and generally improved during the 16 weeks we were together (yes, I counted). OF COURSE I could dwell on the other 4% and only see those students when I think about “teaching”, but I prefer not to.
Just read this quote in Parker Palmer’s “The Courage to Teach”:
“our assumption that students are brain dead leads to pedagogies that deaden their brains”
Among other things, he sums up exactly what you just said: if you assume your students don’t want to learn, or are incapable of doing so, than you won’t make any effort to be a better teacher. Thanks for the post!
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