Excellent. That blog is now in my bookmarks.
groman, I think we’re on the same page–basically–and I’m sorry for my initial hostile reply (could you guess that I just had two separate students who turned in work three weeks late complain that I hadn’t graded it two days after they turned it in?).
In an ideal world, I would never have to do any of the things you describe in your final paragraph. I assure you, 99.9% of instructors hate having to go over that stuff, and we know that there is a sizeable (though sadly, generally not a majority) portion of the class that is ready to gouge its eyes out. However, the college instructor, particularly if s/he works in the humanities, is forced to make a choice:
Suffer before the assignment is turned in, or suffer after.
The problem for the college humanities instructor begins in high schools. High school simply are not teaching the reading, writing and analytical skills necessary for success at even the most introductory level in social sciences and the humanities. In all honesty, I would fail over 75% of the students in my 1st/2nd year classes if I judged them at the “objective” standard of where I think an intro level student in my subject should be (i.e., in possession of the ability to read a somewhat complex text, perform analysis without an abundance of summary, discuss opinions orally, etc.). For a variety of reasons (fn.1), I am simply NOT allowed to fail that many students. Everyone complains about grade inflation in the social sciences and humanities and uses this as cannon fodder in the “those subjects are useless” argument, but what they fail to realize is that, in 99.9% of cases, our ability to grade with the severity we would like and our ability to fail students who SHOULD fail, is curtailed by a number of factors that we cannot control and ought to bend to should we wish to keep our positions.
So I walk into almost every class I teach knowing that the vast majority of my students are spectacularly, grossly underprepared BUT that I can only fail a certain percentage of my classes on a regular basis without raising some eyebrows (I should note that my department is extremely generous in the leeway it gives instructors and I could fail a large number of students–I failed 40% of my summer class–but that they would still have to draw a line somewhere. Many people at other universities have significantly less grading freedom.). I know that the vast majority of the students have no idea how to do almost anything related to writing a proper paper, so I have to teach them how to do these things, because otherwise how could I grade them on those skills in good conscience? I also know that if I don’t “suffer before,” when I hand back those assignments, I will be innundated with people demanding rewrites, regrades, explanations, extra help, etc., etc. At this point, since I can’t fail them all, I have to do something, and that something ends up being frustrating for all involved.
As for someone submitting the paper without the interim assignments, that would not be acceptable. First off, if I do not apply the basic planks of my syllabus to all students (such as due dates and required work), then my syllabus is easily open to challenge by lazy students. Again, I don’t like this, because I believe strongly in discretion and freedom for both students and instructors and it burns me that we can’t have that, but my syllabus does have to be an “all equal in the eyes of the law” document. Second, the student whose work cannot be improved by doing the interim components is extraordinarily rare. I mean, I’m sure they exist, but I’ve never had one, and I’ve had some brilliant, brilliant students. I’ve had sons and daughters of world-famous academics who take after their parents, students who went on to Ivy law schools and doctoral programs, and students who won the highest honors and accolades for their work that my university has to offer, and every last one of them admitted that doing the components and doing the back-and-forth discussion about them made the paper better.
Now I only require those components and a paper of that rigor in my so-advanced-its-practically-a-grad-seminar. One of the explicit goals in that class is to push students to write something that excels everything they have done in school to that point. In my regular junior/senior classes, I don’t require the components and if someone just handed in a paper without consulting me, there would be no penalties.
Footnotes
- At some colleges and universities there is overt pressure from college administrators not to fail students (the Chronicle of Higher Education’s ‘In the Classroom’ Forum has many such horror stories. At almost all colleges and universities, there is overt pressure not to fail too many students. Instructors can be besieged by parents, attorneys and the like, and it is an exhausting and horrible process. Also, many colleges and universities use teaching evaluations when deciding whether to (re)hire adjuncts or PTLs (some even use them as part of the tenure case). Given the high correlation between grades and eval scores this often creates pressure to inflate grades.
That analogy doesn’t hold. At school you aren’t getting paid to please someone else and no one’s success or failure is on the line except your own.
Maybe you should read the second sentence of my post again.
Wow. That footnote in the last post just made me glad all over again that my department head and division deans embrace the saying “Students have the right to fail.” And I am one of the PT professors, but I’ve hung on for 16.5 years without feeling pressured.
The stuff I read at CHE terrifies me sometimes. Like I said, my department is absolutely AWESOME when it comes to backing every single person who teaches for them, and the type of problems described in the footnote are not as rampant at my institution as they are at many others (I’ve got a ton of friends who are VAPing at tuition-driven LACs and the stuff they describe is unbelieveable). I don’t know how I could teach if someone told me I couldn’t fail any of my students or if I was constantly undermined by administrators who bought ridiculous justifications for plagiarism.
Of course not, except a boss can provide a reason for why they want a part of it early. If the reason they provide is “In case you don’t know how to do your job, so we can fix it if you suck”, I will quit.
If you, groman, were singled out I could understand why it would be insulting. If it’s a requirement for everyone in the class then what’s so insulting about it?
I thought the purpose of going to school was to learn.
Marc
Better run to catch up with that turnip tuck, it’s rolling down the street without you! 
If anything it’s more insulting. Compare “I think you’re an idiot.” to “I think you’re an idiot, cause you’re one of <group> and <group> are all idiots.”
University student here.
I’m a theatre major, so we’re all pretty laid back here. If you miss an assignment you’ll at most have to bring a doctor’s note, even for big research papers. Usually all they need is your word and a good excuse. My general ed classes, on the other hand, have sometimes been a different story.
I had this one teacher who was completely paranoid about cheating. On the first day of class she spent an hour going over the ethics and consequences of cheating. You know the spiel: if you’re caught you’ll be expelled. No school will want you. No jobs will want you. You’ll be outcast from society. We’ll brand a letter ‘C’ on your forehead and possibly kill your dog, just for added effect. This history of east asia pop quiz is serious business, yo. This teacher also had the most insane test taking environment. She had THREE different copies, and made us sit in alternating seats like we were in fucking third grade. By the time she fully explained the instructions on how to identify your version of the test on the scantron, a quarter of the test taking time was eaten up. During the exam she patrolled the aisles like a POW guard. She’d leave through the front door and burst through the back door, attempting to catch a would be cheater off guard. It was the funniest shit I’ve ever seen, and you know what? She caught someone. Made a huge scene of it, too. I probably would have gotten a better grade if I wasn’t busy admiring the spectacle.
What was the purpose of this story? I honestly don’t remember. I’m tired. The point is, why go through all these precautions and make everyone miserable? To make one student your bitch? So what if a few cheat? Universities are different from high school. They (or their parents) are paying the school to attend your classes, if they decide to be cheats it’s up to them. The cheaters will cheat throughout their life, regardless of how often they’re caught. It’s in their blood. I can’t really blame them, either. Our society rewards the end, not the journey. It doesn’t who you had to kill in order to get to the top, as long as you have something to show for it. So just chill, relax, and teach. Don’t be offended if they take advantage of you. Is it worth offending the few honest people that actually exist?
Unfortunately, it’s a pretty common attitude, especially when it comes to taking classes that aren’t directly related to one’s major. I went to college to learn, granted I expected doors to open once I got that diploma, but I still wanted to learn.
Marc
Why couldn’t it be, “I just want to make sure all the students know what they’re doing”? If you’re in a junior/senior level class where this is taking place, you might have a point. If it’s a freshman/sophmore class, I just don’t see the big deal.
Marc
And even in some upper-division courses, it could matter. I’ve taken senior- and graduate-level courses where we’ve had to show progress on our papers. It’s not that we couldn’t be trusted not to fuck it up, it’s that the purpose of the class was to learn advanced research and writing techniques, and the professor wanted to make sure we were learning those. The best way to do that is to turn in the paper in stages. :shrug:
Robin
To make sure all the students know what they’re doing, you make yourself available for questions, point them towards the writing labs, and give them clear instructions in the assignment. I must have spent at least 40 hours of lecture time during my four years in the library listening to the librarian explaining how to use Infotrac or the library catalgo, and doing the same type of graded assignment checking my ability to tell apart academic from non-academic publications.
A good number of teachers seem to have gotten this way. . . obsessed with the cheaters, the absentees, the liars. I am a very honest person, was a good student and a talker-- someone you wanted in your class because I’d pay attention and participate. But nothing would make me drop a class faster than that a 6 page sylabus comprised mostly of paragraphs about the above. I hated meeting professors who had that defensive, hardened attitude that was almost hostile-- by sheer virtue of being a student, I was obviously trying to pull one over on them.
There is a line beyond due dilligence, and some teachers seem to cross it. I was very sick my “Senior” year in college (so much that I had to take another semester the next fall). Most of my teachers were great. Some were abysmal, despite doctors notes and backing from the dean.
I hope you don’t get like that ACC. You can scare off the good students along with the bad.
Oh, I thought college was about earning your degree, which stands as proof of your work ethic, ability to meet deadlines, complete tasks, follow instructions, and put in some hard work. My mistake.
I think we’re talking about two different things. I didn’t say anything about multiple trips to the library to learn how to use Infotrac, Proquest, or whatever it is those damn kids are using these days. I don’t think it’s at all silly to require you to turn in various assignments before the final paper is due. If the instructor requires rough drafts for peer reviews, a written proposal on your next research paper, or something of that nature before the main paper is due, I find that completely reasonable.
40 hours of lecture time in the library? You’re not a librarian are you?
Marc
I have friends in Masters and PhD programs who have written volumes, tomes and epics in e-mails and blogs, all about how college is about earning your degree, which stands as proof of your ability to bullshit, weasel, and regurgitate whatever the prof wants to hear.
Oh, well I guess if you have friends then that settles it. Actually, I guess there are a lot of different reasons why people go to college. I went to college because I wanted to learn something though it would be a lie to say that earning that little slip of paper wasn’t part of my motivation.
Marc
Well, if your friends feel that such a description reflects their experience as students, i feel sorry for them.
And if, as grad students, it reflects their practices as TAs and teachers, then shame on them.