Death and the Academic
Every semester, I and my students face all of the serious problems of dealing with >TIME< and "stuff" happening. Now, I intentionally teach HYBRID classes. This means that I am NOT available every week for short blocks of time where students can pick and choose, which parts of my schedule are amenable to them (or NOT). But, we are also ALL caught up in a Society that values "busy-ness" or business (in both senses of the word) above all else. I ask my students to work in small groups in order to address the organizational problems of large classes and my being the central hub. I KNOW from my years of teaching organizational communication that one of the most difficult issues in small academic groups is finding a TIME to meet.
Now, idealistic me thinks that since they have a set class time EVERY week - where we do NOT meet every week - why couldn't they schedule their group meetings at the same time as class would happen, IF we were actually meeting on a weekly basis. That is my very idealist version of WHAT could happen on the group level, but now back to the class problem. I choose the times the class meets during the semester, and obviously, try to make it work around MY schedule.
My academic life has been 'blessed' for lack of a better term with some short and a few long protracted illnesses of several very important people followed by death. Each of these events completely disturbed my work/life balance and several involved extensive travel. All of them came while I was responsible for classes - either as a Student or an Educator. I have either dropped out of classes or semesters as a student, or found ways to arrange my teaching around illness when I was the responsible educator. This is not always easy, and indeed much more difficult to plan than births, weddings and other life events.
As an educator, I almost always REFUSE documentation for life events and illness. I want my Adult students to have an adult sense of truth, honesty, trust and morality. If they have written up an Obituary for a dead granny a thousand times, so be it. If they are pulling the cover up over their heads to have a day off - more power to them and congratulations on their wisdom in self-care. In any case, the consequences like their lives are up to them. They will have enough difficulties figuring out and sorting their priorities as they go through a life faced with hectic schedules and scheduling and ever increasing amounts of busy-ness.
I may post more on this subject as I ponder what I have learned from each of the significant illnesses / deaths in my life and as I encounter ever increasing material on the impact of death in/on ALL of our lives, . . .
Lately, I have been on a trust binge. I have given so much trust that I can't handle it anymore!
ReplyDeleteAs a full-time student involved in several school projects, the navigation between life and school is something I constantly struggle with. I personally avoid missing classes like the plague - I actually tend to enjoy time in class 98% of the time. What does this have to do with trust?
I would like to trust my professors with having a prepared, meaningful lecture that I want to attend. I want to trust that the information provided during the lecture will no repeat the reading but enhance them. I want to trust and see that my professor has passion for teaching the material. And, I want to trust that the information provided will be something valuable, either immediately or in the future, as a professional or scholarly. If I and other students could be able to trust professors with this, then I and other students would understand that just like me, they have lives, and missed lectures are not missed just because but rather because of necessity.
The same goes for students. Professors should trust that the majority of students do in fact want to learn. Professors should trust that students do prepare for material that will be presented. Professors should trust that students want to participate in classroom discussions. On these presumptions, professors would be able to trust that students do not miss class because they want, but rather because they need.
However, much of that trust can be lost both ways through excessive absence in the classroom, lack of communication, and punishment from judgmental/biased honesty. I have had professors not inform students of an absence and although it is not the end of the world, it is annoying to wake up early, deal with traffic, find parking and make the 20 minute walk to campus, with a backpack full of notes, lunch, water, books, computer, just to wait in class for 15 minutes, if not more, to have have a professor not show up. And, I imagine, just as infuriating for a professor to experience the same but with a classroom where 95% of the students are not prepared. (on the defense of students I would argue that that makes 100% of professor absence compared to 95% student unpreparedness). As for lack of communication, allowing open communication, either for absence or questions would allow students and professors to be honest about needing time away from the classroom. This can be a simple email "Dear Professor, I apologize for having to miss class but my daughter has a doctor's appointment. Attached is the homework (or proof that student was prepared). Thank you for your understanding." And the same for professors, "Students please be advised that class has been canceled today due to an emergency. Attached are lecture notes." Judgmental/biased honesty is tricky: what is an excused absence from either party? If a professor takes a day/time off in order to enhance their career (attend a workshop, do research, write a proposal, etc) then a student should be allowed to do the same (attend a cultural concert, participate in extracurricular activities, attend a conference, etc). And, there should be no punishment for saying, "Dear Professor, My french club is having a bake sale today to raise funds for the children's home and I need to cover that table from 1-3. Sorry for the inconvenience. Attached is proof of participation (and proof of preparedness)."
All parties understand that the navigation between life and work is tricky. If we could all work as a team, trusting that all parties want to learn, teach, be present then there would be no guilt when tough decisions of absence have to be made.