Last Chance U
After ignoring on my Netflix page for forever now, I finally watched both seasons of Last Chance U. Shockingly, as a community college teacher, I have thoughts.
Among the many thoughts I had were how the show reflects some of the discussions we've had (at my college/in my program) about independent competence; that is, the ability to carry out various tasks without someone pushing/explaining/helping you along the way. Certainly we believe in getting assistance. However, if someone is only passing, say, ENG101 because the worked with the teacher twice a week in office hours, went to tutoring once a week, and regularly went to the writing lab, are they really prepared for the writing tasks that will face them in the rest of their academic career, to say nothing of their profession? It's a hard balance to strike, and we struggle with it a LOT, especially with our developmental students, who may squeeeeeaaak through to get placed in 101, but are still nowhere near ready for it.
One that note, the show made me wince more than once. For every young man who seems to have gotten the idea, there's one who is only graduating/moving on to someplace bigger because he's been dragged there against his own best efforts to fail. I worry about the latter, I really do. I mean they have an adviser all of their own, coaches waking them up to get them to class, so much just dealing with the behavioral aspect of academics, you can't help but wonder what happens when that support is no longer there.
That said, I did tear up at Ronald Ollie's sheer joy in getting and A in ENG102 (which is the course I teach). He looked as happy about that as anything he had done on the football field, and that's pretty awesome.
Mostly, I have to say that while my school is pretty competitive in baseball, volleyball, and some other sports (bringing in national titles), I am SO incredibly glad that we do not have a football team. I only really had to deal with that once at ASU, and it was a real headache. Our coaches here are very, very determined to support teachers.
This entry was originally posted at https://cereta.dreamwidth.org/1171940.html. If you can, please speak there.
have spoken there.
Among the many thoughts I had were how the show reflects some of the discussions we've had (at my college/in my program) about independent competence; that is, the ability to carry out various tasks without someone pushing/explaining/helping you along the way. Certainly we believe in getting assistance. However, if someone is only passing, say, ENG101 because the worked with the teacher twice a week in office hours, went to tutoring once a week, and regularly went to the writing lab, are they really prepared for the writing tasks that will face them in the rest of their academic career, to say nothing of their profession? It's a hard balance to strike, and we struggle with it a LOT, especially with our developmental students, who may squeeeeeaaak through to get placed in 101, but are still nowhere near ready for it.
One that note, the show made me wince more than once. For every young man who seems to have gotten the idea, there's one who is only graduating/moving on to someplace bigger because he's been dragged there against his own best efforts to fail. I worry about the latter, I really do. I mean they have an adviser all of their own, coaches waking them up to get them to class, so much just dealing with the behavioral aspect of academics, you can't help but wonder what happens when that support is no longer there.
That said, I did tear up at Ronald Ollie's sheer joy in getting and A in ENG102 (which is the course I teach). He looked as happy about that as anything he had done on the football field, and that's pretty awesome.
Mostly, I have to say that while my school is pretty competitive in baseball, volleyball, and some other sports (bringing in national titles), I am SO incredibly glad that we do not have a football team. I only really had to deal with that once at ASU, and it was a real headache. Our coaches here are very, very determined to support teachers.
This entry was originally posted at https://cereta.dreamwidth.org/1171940.html. If you can, please speak there.
have spoken there.