Let's discuss this job a bit, shall we. The quarter is ending (still not used to the quarter system) and I can say that while teaching has gotten easier and more comfortable, being a teacher is getting worse and worse. A large part of it comes from the attitudes of these students, but also the fact that the school is for-profit, which means we end up catering to these students way more 1.) than we should, and b.)in a way that perpetuates their spoiled ideals.
Recently, we got an email stating that we had to call/email/contact any student who missed more than 2 classes and find out what the deal was, get them back into the classroom, etc. We, the teachers, have to get in touch with the students and make them come to school. Because step one of starting an adult life is having people tell you when/where to be. i want to know if i should be going to their apartments and tucking them in at night, buying their groceries and wiping their butts, too.
Also, apparently there is no real enforcement or regularity of the grading process. this is evident in the students who have been in the senior capstone class. if it were up to me, most of them would have been booted from the class after the first 2 weeks - they werent ready for it, and they didnt have the proper work ethic to get through it. of the 14 students that started the class, 7 failed. that's a 50% success rate. also, the highest grade was a C+. how is this even possible? They get weekly, that's right - weekly, updates on their grades. this is because there are items due every week - about 1.5 hours worth of grading per student, just to make sure they stay on top of things, and to reduce the amount of grading at the end. so for this quarter, that's 21 hours of grading each week, on top of the 8 hours of classtime (2 four hour class periods) meaning almost 30 hours of work each week, for this one class. beyond the disappointment in the projects, and the questioning of the curriculum, this math just makes me angry. to think of all the time i gave to this class, and only 50% made it through?! When discussing the failing students, several of the other teachers made comments like "i'm not surprised" and "that's what i expect out of ____________" Well, then how did these students make it past your classes? It is amazing how much they'll overlook or forgive just to get these students on to the next class, only to share their lack of shock at the pass/fail rate.
Some (most) of it has to due with the teachers and the way grades are assessed and assigned. however, i keep coming back to the for-profit side of things, and how much i disagree with the philosophy. Of course, while i'm here i have to pretend to like it, support it and follow along with the rules, however ridiculous they may be. I'm sure other types of schools have their own problems, and i might not like those any better, but i know this current situation isn't a good fit for me. It's a shame, because teaching is not that bad, really. I just think that the venue needs to change for me, and i feel that i would benefit from more experience. more immediately, though, is the fact that the new quarter starts in 2 weeks, and i'm currently schedule to teach 3 regular classes plus the senior capstone - alone this time (with a class load of 19). Keep your fingers crossed that something happens for me soon, or else you might have to visit me in the loonie bin. and that's a whole other sort of blog....
2 comments:
I agree it sounds like the for-profit part of your school drives their mentality. It made me think that the interesting part of any non-profit organization is that everyone they employee is for-profit. And I would say that for-profit is usually such a strong motivation that it wins over non-profit... except schools may be an exception.
yeah - it's nuts the way things work here. i never though about the difference until i was in the thick of it, but the for profit model doesn't seem to benefit anyone here.
Post a Comment