Bring THIS to your college classes but keep THAT in your high school classes.
I feel as if I’ve finally recovered from grading finals and ending yet another semester of teaching Criminal Justice courses at a university. Prefacing all of this by saying that, I absolutely love my job and my role as a university lecturer/professor. I love it so much that it’s also on my list of “rebuilding” endeavors because each year I miss out on the big criminal justice conferences, research opportunities and other advancement opportunities in academia because I also work in two completely different industries. But, I am dedicating time to dominating all industries that I can get my hands on this year, so I’ll certainly be at your reasonably priced CRJ conferences.
Bring this:
I’ve been noticing trends during my time as a professor and I have to say that they’re concerning, at best. So, I’m going to list some of the things that you should be bringing into the classroom, as well as some of the things that you should definitely leave at home.
A Willingness and Readiness to Learn
It’s so easy to start out the semester strong. You’re coming off of a summer or a winter break and have done plenty of pre-planning for the term. You’ve bought the new backpack or tote, gotten a couple of notebooks and done a bunch of color-coordinating. The issue seems to be that, when you come to class, you’re not ready to learn. What I’ve noticed is that there’s a discrepancy in what professors see as “being ready to learn” and what today’s students see as “being ready to learn”.
When discussing a readiness to learn, it refers to a level of preparation that encompasses the physical, socio-emotional, behavioral, linguistic and cognitive skills that show a preparedness to receive formal education. Within a classroom context, this covers, knowing when to speak and when to be quiet, being able to sit down for the whole class period (physical abilities permitting), the ability to read, write and comprehend (grade-level dependent), and so on.
These things may seem like basics and/or common sense, but this post wouldn’t be necessary if these things were happening across the board within the collegial setting.
Hard Work and Some Type of Dedication
Hard work is a dying game. I have no clue why people love to claim hard work but not actually engage in hard work (while acknowledging that my hard work looks different than yours).
In a classroom, hard work at a minimum is: coming to class having read and prepared the required material; coming to class with thoughtful questions and potential answers regarding the material; taking diligent notes that assist your learning style (depending upon what’s permitted within your classroom); and curiosity surrounding the subject matter.
Bringing at least this to your classes will greatly help you with grasping the information in a meaningful way so that you can productively contribute to the classroom conversation, but this is truly something that’s lacking in college classrooms today.
Curiosity
Curiosity can genuinely be the gateway to deeper learning and understanding. It’s the minimum requirement for seeking a truer level of knowledge, in my view. Much of learning starts with wonder and a question. From there, it should be the case that you’re employing some form of research (starting with an assigned textbook) to further your knowledge and understanding.
But again, if you don’t at least start with curiosity then you won’t make it to the part where you’ll work at the subject matter.
But please, leave this in high school:
Entitlement
Entitlement is “the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment”. Right now entitlement is one of those fun trigger words that people have taken and run with but it’s the root of many people’s problem.
I support believing that you deserve the best in life because life gets super weird/ugly. But I’m a bigger believer in having something to offer towards getting what what you want/deserve. You’ve got to work for it people.
Entitlement in a classroom is simply demanding answers to things that you should be figuring out on your own. I mean, if you have a textbook then you have all the resources that you need (especially if the answer is in a part of the assigned reading… come on). Leave your entitlement at home, guys, it is not cute nor is it welcome in my college classroom (I can’t speak for everyone else).
Requests for Answers (with a straight face, mind you)
Some of my students genuinely ask for what exactly is on the quizzes and exams and then have the audacity to get upset when I tell them that I can’t tell them exactly what’s on the exam. Keep in mind the fact that we work from a syllabus that maps out exactly what’s to be covered, and I mention multiple times during each class that “this is something that may come up on the exam”.
I come as close to providing specifics as I possibly can and my students still get in a huff about not having the answers!
That’s honestly one note/comment that I never care about at the end of each semester because when did it become the case that you don’t work for your grade at all? But then you want to post about being an organized and devoted college student. I cannot.
Stop asking your professors for the answers and do some work yourself! Be proactive about your education (I say this every semester).
Complaints When The Answers Aren’t Freely Given
See above to avoid me continuously ranting about this ugly behavior. But in all seriousness, I tell my students every term, “You’re in charge of your education, so take the initiative and determine what you take from your classes on your own. Don’t wait for your professors to feed you everything.” And that still stands.
So as you can see, working within academia today is interesting. It gets really fun and thoroughly confusing when dealing with a good mixture of the generations within one classroom. This has also been an amazing learning opportunity for me, as an educator, as well. The way I see it: if I’m learning, then so are you. Let’s do this together!
Best,
Bree
