Today my son told me had read what students had to say about me on Ratemyprof.com, this after I told him I didn't want to know, didn't care, didn't want to read, ever, what those students, embittered, angry ones, mostly, had to say about me or my teaching. But he, after all, an expert, a college student of the very sort who writes these choice notes about a person who has spent all of his or her life attempting to communicate with college students like himself, with various degrees of success, feels that if I listen to the overall tone and message of these ratings, I may have more success reaching the very audience I aim for. In his view, if I just ease up, give less work, grade less onerously, I will be popular, and therefore reach more students.
I am skeptical. I have never in my life been popular with the majority of people around me. Why would that start now, no matter what actions I take? The students who don't want to be there, who don't care about the subjects they are taking, are not going to want to hear about those subjects no matter how the teachers package them. And those who want to try, who are inspired to learn, are going to pay attention, and some of them are going to do fine. Some are not. That is just the way it is.
If I didn't have to give grades, I could shrug and send students on their way to the next class. But since I have to, I must apply those standards to everyone, in a fair and equal way. Otherwise, I couldn't live with myself and wouldn't be doing my job.
No one ever taught me to write, till I got to college. I guess I want to return the favor, even if students would rather that I didn't.
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