Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Dec. 17th, 2025 06:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI got my student course evaluations today. Another round of 5/5 scores and “best professor ever” comments. All my classes for the spring semester are once again full.
I’m not the most charismatic person in the world, so I get the sense that this positive feedback is almost certainly the result of me giving everyone an “A” no matter what. The university is not paying me enough to give these kids bad grades. Also, they’re all good kids. I support them and want them to be happy.
A lot of people said that I’m “kind,” but that’s not what’s going on. Kindness is when you want to be mean but you choose to be compassionate. I simply have no desire to be mean. Again, the university isn’t paying me enough. So it’s not that I’m kind; I just don’t care about stupid bullshit.
Did you turn in an assignment late? That’s okay, thanks for turning it in eventually. Did you miss a quiz? That’s okay, you can send the answers over email. Did you use ChatGPT to write an assignment? You’re a doofus, you don’t need to do that for this class. Did you come to class twenty minutes late? That’s okay, I’m glad you’re here. Did you miss a week of class because you were tired and stressed out? That’s okay, I’m glad you’re feeling better.
My own experience as an undergraduate was that professors would go out of their way to penalize every little thing, and I never understood why they did this. Like, we’re all adults here. We’re just sitting around a table and talking about novels. I’m not your dad, and I’m not here to discipline anyone. Meritocracy is fake anyway. Let’s be chill and enjoy learning.
I’m not the most charismatic person in the world, so I get the sense that this positive feedback is almost certainly the result of me giving everyone an “A” no matter what. The university is not paying me enough to give these kids bad grades. Also, they’re all good kids. I support them and want them to be happy.
A lot of people said that I’m “kind,” but that’s not what’s going on. Kindness is when you want to be mean but you choose to be compassionate. I simply have no desire to be mean. Again, the university isn’t paying me enough. So it’s not that I’m kind; I just don’t care about stupid bullshit.
Did you turn in an assignment late? That’s okay, thanks for turning it in eventually. Did you miss a quiz? That’s okay, you can send the answers over email. Did you use ChatGPT to write an assignment? You’re a doofus, you don’t need to do that for this class. Did you come to class twenty minutes late? That’s okay, I’m glad you’re here. Did you miss a week of class because you were tired and stressed out? That’s okay, I’m glad you’re feeling better.
My own experience as an undergraduate was that professors would go out of their way to penalize every little thing, and I never understood why they did this. Like, we’re all adults here. We’re just sitting around a table and talking about novels. I’m not your dad, and I’m not here to discipline anyone. Meritocracy is fake anyway. Let’s be chill and enjoy learning.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-04 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-24 06:03 pm (UTC)Recently people have been remarking on how young I look. I don't think that I look young, I just think that everyone else looks a million years old. Not suffering when you don't have to has its benefits.
I hope you're doing well in cold and windy Chicago btw! Best of luck with the snowstorm this weekend. 💙
no subject
Date: 2026-01-27 11:20 pm (UTC)I live! It's incredibly fucking cold and I refuse to go outside, but the kitties and I have plenty of provisions and blankets, so we're doing all right. We have at least upgraded from "you will get frostbite on exposed skin in less than ten minutes, please don't take yourself or pets out for longer than absolutely necessary" to "this fucking sucks and leave your faucets dripping so your pipes don't freeze, but you can probably get like a whole 20 minutes outside if you gotta." it's better, ish. (Fortunately my job is letting us work from home all week.)