Discipline and Consequences
Apr. 26th, 2020 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI hate to say it, but I wish I could block some of my students.
This is the exact right moment for this semester to be over, because I’ve started sending sardonic replies to some of the more odious student emails I've been getting. Usually I’ll pretend to ignore obvious lies and pointless self-serving bullshit, but my mother is in the hospital and my patience is wearing dangerously thin.
I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I made the wrong choice by allowing myself to be "accessible."
For example, I thought I was doing the right thing by taking a relaxed approach to deadlines, but this has ultimately resulted in students turning in less work, not more. Ironically, it's also resulted in students sending me offensive emails in an attempt to negotiate deadlines that don't exist. My own experience with strict discipline is that it’s counterproductive, and I personally work much better when I don’t feel that I’m under any pressure to meet arbitrary standards. I’m starting to think that I might be an anomaly in this regard, however. Sure, everyone is going to say that they want their professor to be kind and understanding, but I think what most people actually want is a clear sense of structure and hierarchy.
If that sounds heartless, think of it this way:
When someone is experiencing executive function disorder because of stress, exhaustion, mental illness, or any other reason, it can be useful to clarify concrete consequences and thereby take decisions regarding priorities out of that person’s hands. In other words, this removes the mental strain of having to perform a cost-benefit analysis, because you either do a thing or you don’t; and, if you don’t do the thing, you no longer have to worry about it.
Maybe an emphasis on strict discipline from the beginning will be a better approach in the future, especially if the fall semester is going to be the same sort of mess as this one (and all sources indicate that it probably will be). I want to be able to help my students, but I can only do so if they meet me halfway by understanding that there are clear boundaries to our relationship.
For what it's worth, I'm not transgender (I don't think?), but I occasionally fantasize about having a male name and a literal beard, which I like to imagine would allow me to be friendly with my students without them taking my easygoing attitude as an invitation to play weird and unnecessary power games. Sometimes I look at the bizarre emails they write to me, and I can't help but think, like, Is this something you'd still say to me if I were male?
This is the exact right moment for this semester to be over, because I’ve started sending sardonic replies to some of the more odious student emails I've been getting. Usually I’ll pretend to ignore obvious lies and pointless self-serving bullshit, but my mother is in the hospital and my patience is wearing dangerously thin.
I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I made the wrong choice by allowing myself to be "accessible."
For example, I thought I was doing the right thing by taking a relaxed approach to deadlines, but this has ultimately resulted in students turning in less work, not more. Ironically, it's also resulted in students sending me offensive emails in an attempt to negotiate deadlines that don't exist. My own experience with strict discipline is that it’s counterproductive, and I personally work much better when I don’t feel that I’m under any pressure to meet arbitrary standards. I’m starting to think that I might be an anomaly in this regard, however. Sure, everyone is going to say that they want their professor to be kind and understanding, but I think what most people actually want is a clear sense of structure and hierarchy.
If that sounds heartless, think of it this way:
When someone is experiencing executive function disorder because of stress, exhaustion, mental illness, or any other reason, it can be useful to clarify concrete consequences and thereby take decisions regarding priorities out of that person’s hands. In other words, this removes the mental strain of having to perform a cost-benefit analysis, because you either do a thing or you don’t; and, if you don’t do the thing, you no longer have to worry about it.
Maybe an emphasis on strict discipline from the beginning will be a better approach in the future, especially if the fall semester is going to be the same sort of mess as this one (and all sources indicate that it probably will be). I want to be able to help my students, but I can only do so if they meet me halfway by understanding that there are clear boundaries to our relationship.
For what it's worth, I'm not transgender (I don't think?), but I occasionally fantasize about having a male name and a literal beard, which I like to imagine would allow me to be friendly with my students without them taking my easygoing attitude as an invitation to play weird and unnecessary power games. Sometimes I look at the bizarre emails they write to me, and I can't help but think, like, Is this something you'd still say to me if I were male?
