It's a Different World...

...from where I'm comin' from for sure! So, as I said before, it's not going very well at my new institution of employment. It all comes down to expectations. Expectations that the institution has for the students and expectations that the students have of themselves. I sense that a culture of failure has been perpetuated. It starts with attendance and goes all the way through test performance.

The administration says that they want to increase attendance, but they don't seem to act in a manner that demonstrates that. For example, I was encouraged to create a strict attendance policy that would increase attendance (administration says one thing), but then as the department head was walking me to my classroom and telling me where to park he mentioned 'It might be more difficult to find a spot next week when the upper classmen start classes.' I thought this was odd so I asked him, "Oh, do you have a staggered entry for upper classmen? Are freshmen required to start classes earlier?" Then his response was, 'No. It's just typical for upper classmen to not come to class for the first week or two." (administration doing another thing; accepting low attendance). I can understand that this sort of thing happens, but for it to be such an accepted behavior is what really shocked me. And it made me wonder how most of the classes are structured. I give lecture material on the first day of class that will be on the test. Is everyone else not starting test material until week two of classes? I was also told not to expect an attendance roster until two or three weeks into the semester, since students would be adding for up to three weeks after classes began. I had one student come to class, for the first time mind you, the day before the test...

I have 31 students registered in each class. I've never had more than 22 show up on any day... including the test day! But I don't want to talk about the test yet...

These students are so different. I have a hard time imagining what their lives must have been like before college. They all have such a different, almost half-empty outlook on the world. Like it's supposed to be extra difficult for them to succeed or that they shouldn't expect to get the same kind of service as the majority. They know they are the minority and they seem to expect to be marginalized. So much that it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I had an activity where I gave them a very empty story (one from my own experience). It went something like this:

I witnessed an intoxicated man get hit by a car. I contacted the authorities. They responded.

The point of the exercise was for them to fill in all the blanks that I left. To fill the story with details and vivid language; to make it more interesting. Each group also had to tailor the story to a specific audience. I told them to create whatever details I left out so that they were realistic.

In every single one of the five groups, in both classes (ten groups total), the car that hit the man left the scene of the accident (sped away in most of them), it took at least 20 mins for any type of law enforcement or ambulance to reach to scene, and the man died as a result of the accident. Every single group! What does this say about their experiences and their outlook on emergency services?

By the way... The driver of the car stopped, emergency responders were there within 2 minutes of my 911 call, and the man was not severely injured.

I can understand that the guy dies in all the stories, maybe they've never heard of someone living after a car hit, but every one of the drivers fled the scene. It's just expected that the driver wouldn't take responsibility for the accident, and what really gets me is that they all expect the police to take a very long time to respond to their needs. What sort of experiences have they had to shape their views like this?

And then there's the test... but I'll wait to tell that story another time. I've got to read the papers they've just turned in...