At the schools where I teach, dogs don't eat your homework, Al Qaeda does...
You know all those profs over at Rate Your Students who bitch and whine about the stuff their students do? The students come to class in their pajamas. They are hung over. They are stupid as buckets of nails. And the excuses their students have for not turning in their best work or not being in class are simply tedious: relatives dying, traffic jams, girlfriend issues. What can I say? Yawn.
Where I teach, the students have made other life decisions and are facing other issues. These are both e-mails I got today:
Exhibit A:
It is my duty to inform you that I have had a pretty bad stroke of luck. As of last night my foot was nearly ripped free of my leg. It looks like I won't be walking for a long time, in two months they will do a surgery that may change that but until then I am bedridden and I cannot drive or do much of anything for myself. I am writing because I am having a brief moment of lucidity. The painkillers I am taking seem to be affecting everything EXCEPT my pain.. It sucks big time, my whole body won't quit hurting. I believe I will be able to continue our courses though, and this Sunday I should be able to submit the usual discussions.
Just wanted to give you all a heads up in case something happens.
Exhibit B:
I just wanted to let you know that I just got back from a mission that had me "outside the wire" for a couple days. I am in charge of a sniper team so we occasionally have to be out for days at a time. I am going to get some sleep and do my best to catch up with what i missed. I know taking these classes will be a challenge with my particular job but I am sincere about this and I will always catch up whatever i miss. ...
So your students are drunk? Mine are "outside the wire." Your students are hung over? Mine wear Purple Hearts. As it turns out, that student with a torn foot did not step on a landmine or get acquainted with an IED or get run over by a tank. It was a civilian accident. But where I teach, the first assumption is _violence_. He was an Iraq War veteran, but got hurt playing volley ball!
One of my students got behind in class because his tent in Kuwait burned down and destroyed his laptop. He is doing his college education from a _tent_ in 100-degree and higher heat! I had a student whose final exam went missing. We couldn't track it down for a while because the location he had taken the test in no longer existed: It was a "Forward Operating Base" in Pakistan! Take that problem to your "Bible College of the Prairie" or "Big State Football University"!
Check out the photos of some of these people - including the torched tent - at http://hatlie.de/teaching/teaching-studentsallover.html.
Where I teach, the students have made other life decisions and are facing other issues. These are both e-mails I got today:
Exhibit A:
It is my duty to inform you that I have had a pretty bad stroke of luck. As of last night my foot was nearly ripped free of my leg. It looks like I won't be walking for a long time, in two months they will do a surgery that may change that but until then I am bedridden and I cannot drive or do much of anything for myself. I am writing because I am having a brief moment of lucidity. The painkillers I am taking seem to be affecting everything EXCEPT my pain.. It sucks big time, my whole body won't quit hurting. I believe I will be able to continue our courses though, and this Sunday I should be able to submit the usual discussions.
Just wanted to give you all a heads up in case something happens.
Exhibit B:
I just wanted to let you know that I just got back from a mission that had me "outside the wire" for a couple days. I am in charge of a sniper team so we occasionally have to be out for days at a time. I am going to get some sleep and do my best to catch up with what i missed. I know taking these classes will be a challenge with my particular job but I am sincere about this and I will always catch up whatever i miss. ...
So your students are drunk? Mine are "outside the wire." Your students are hung over? Mine wear Purple Hearts. As it turns out, that student with a torn foot did not step on a landmine or get acquainted with an IED or get run over by a tank. It was a civilian accident. But where I teach, the first assumption is _violence_. He was an Iraq War veteran, but got hurt playing volley ball!
One of my students got behind in class because his tent in Kuwait burned down and destroyed his laptop. He is doing his college education from a _tent_ in 100-degree and higher heat! I had a student whose final exam went missing. We couldn't track it down for a while because the location he had taken the test in no longer existed: It was a "Forward Operating Base" in Pakistan! Take that problem to your "Bible College of the Prairie" or "Big State Football University"!
Check out the photos of some of these people - including the torched tent - at http://hatlie.de/teaching/teaching-studentsallover.html.
mhatlie - 16. Feb, 22:14 Topic: Teaching http://hatlie.twoday.net/stories/4712214/
