University-wide, and it still annoys me

[niveau]

My moral philosophy students are dwindling in numbers. With attendance going down it makes one wonder: what is the drive to waste my time and their money? Well, I think I've found a way to resolve things adequately: be an unusually cruel bastard with their essays

Comments

[commcyber]

Small consolation that it's just the time of the semester, I think.

In all four of my tutorials there were 8 people on average today. It has slowly decreased as students seem to realise that it's not compulsory to attend, in the sense that no gun is being held to their heads.

Don't take it to heart. :) It's their choice to not come. Many students only want a pass. 24 x ~Pass = degree = job = teh win!

I get the impression that they don't want to waste your time maliciously, for some students (not all) University is what you do between working a menial job and binge drinking. It's hard to compete with that. :)

Think of the ones who do come, the ones who are generally interested... You might be planting the same seed that sparked your imagination and desire to pursue the academic path. That makes it worthwhile.

Nice PennyArcade soundtrack. ;) Glad you didn't pick the.. er.. fruit .. juicer. :)

[commcyber]

RE: PennyArcade... I didn't realise it was a podcast. Heh! :)

[amabile]

The fact is, they are probably all busy writing their essays to get them into you on time. Yes, we have terrible time management but to be fair, if you hadn't alluded to the essay before today, they probably thought you weren't going to say anything about it. My lecturers have been dropping subtle hints on and off all semester especially when it comes to the topics that the assignments are on.

Don't take it to heart :) It's THAT time of semester and we're all stressed. We don't mean to waste your time and I know that you have heard all the excuses in the book. But take the time to focus on those of us that still do turn up to class and use the time to give them hints about the exam or something. It makes us feel good when you do that. Smug even.

[olamina]

though i understand your frustration, and love your new villainous catchprase:

Time to get punitive.

however i must agree with amabile that the problem is less to do with you and more to do with your students' poor time management/selfishness.

that having been said, i think any way you handle it is appropriate. once, one my professors came to class, began to lead a discussion and soon discovered none of us had read the source material. she didnt say a word about it. rather, she slowly and silently packed up her things and walked out leaving us dumbfounded. it was a brilliant piece of theater, and i later found out that she actually had two degrees in the theatrical arts. needless to say we'd all learned our lesson.