What about the rest of the (non-reeking) stoners in the class? Do you know who they are? Not all stoners reek.
All reek aside, can you look at any given student and tell if they are stoned? By their papers? (no pun intended). Class input? Seriously.
Heh, I am not giving you shit, just curious, and it would be cool to see an unscientific study by a prof about how the students who are perceived to be stoned do on tests compared to students who appear to not be stoned.
(After preview, the above paragraph must have been written while stoned)
I had no idea that college teachers cared. I had a few classes with this guy who refused to smoke out of anything other than his own bong. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t fit all the way into his bookbag so he walked into every class with 4" of bong sticking out of the top of his bag. No one ever said anything.
Couldn’t have said it better myself! When I read the OP, I had to check the location to make sure it wasn’t about my old roommates. However, I am much more cautious than they. Not to say that I am a stoner. I am simply non-reeking, of course.
QUOTE]*Originally posted by Klaatu *
**What about the rest of the (non-reeking) stoners in the class? Do you know who they are? Not all stoners reek.
All reek aside, can you look at any given student and tell if they are stoned? By their papers? (no pun intended). Class input? Seriously. **
[/QUOTE]
Well actually I can tell which papers were written whilst stoned. And to be honest I do not mind if someone is stoned when they write a paper. [sub]I wrote many papers inebriated, and I graduated magne cum laude[/sub]. I have seen some amazing papers written by people who were baked. I call it spherical thinking. Marijuana has the unique ability to be a filter for the mind, sifting through all the crap thats hold people back from imagination and allowing them to write quite pure.
So no, I do not mind if someone writes a paper stoned. I must be careful here. I can not condone smoking and writing a thesis but at the same time I do not want to inhibit original thought. Those who understand, will, those who don’t, will not.
As for the other part of Klaatu’s question… Yes, I can tell when a student is stoned. Basically it all boils down to the way you enter class, if you enter class completely sober for three days, and then come into class stoned, you will do something, anything, that will give it away.
It may be staring at me for an unusually long period of time, or take waaay longer to answer a question than is normally acceptable. Trust me I’ve been there, and I’ll know.
But if you are in one of my classes and you put forth an effort to learn, I will understand, and be amenable to your plight.
The Op is about respect. And I feel that coming into class stoned a couple times is no big deal during a semester. But we just got back to class last week and he has come in stoned every day.
I probably should talk to him. I just do not want to come off as an asshole teacher, I mean I am only 10 years his senior…
I emailed him this morning to come to class a little early. And he just got back to me asking if he is in some kind of trouble. Here is a clip of the email I sent him back…I do not think it’s that bad.
I just found out he got permission from the department head to be in the class, and it appears the class may be a little over his head. It’s a psych-lit class and he hasn’t even purchased his books yet…
The SDMB, which I call, probably incorrectly, the list. I think in the rules we’re not allowed to do illegal stuff. So we wouldn’t be able to get a group of people to write essays, randomly assign who shall write her essay while stoned, and them submit them to Philophr for a single-blind trial of his stoned-essay hypothesis.
Just be glad, Philophr, that you don’t teach a lab section.
People who show up stoned, drunk, or high get kicked out of my lab. I can’t have people in chemically altered states of consciousness handling potentially hazardous substances or working with easily mishandled equipment. And, no, I’m not going to “let you try” and see if you do OK. If I let you stay, and you have some sort of accident or ruin any of the hyper-expensive equipment, I get into quite a bit of trouble, myself. I might not have a job next quarter. That’s not a risk I’m taking for you or anyone else.
So you like to indulge in illegal substances. That’s fine with me. I don’t feel that I have the right to tell you how to treat your own body and mind. You’re an adult. (Well, you’re technically an adult, anyway. I think that some of my students are, emotionally and mentally speaking, stuck back in 7th grade.) But–you’re stoned, and you think you’re going through today’s lab? Think again. Get out of my room, and don’t come back until you’re perfectly capable of understanding why we don’t leave Fischer burners on high flame while we wander the halls for 20 minutes and why certain chemicals must be left in the fume hood.
Scribble, you may be a chemistry instructor, and if I were in the same field I would most likely feel the exact same way. However, I am a psychology instructor. I teach psych 101 every fall. Psych stats, psych lit, and academic advisor in the spring. I have no fear my students will set fire to the chem-lab or some other such hooliganry. But the OP was written because this early in the semester, I do not want to be dealing with someone disrespecting my class…
Incidently, I spoke to the perpetrator this afternoon and he was completely aghast that I noticed and even smelled his odoriferous emannations… I got the point across that I do not fault him personally, but that I do want him to respect his classmates…
Phlosphr, you’ve got my empathy. Really, you do. I have two sections of a biology combined lab and recitation period (I ran chem labs and recitations for a couple of quarters, though), and I understand quite well what it’s like to have stoned people in recitation. You get questions that make no sense (“Umm…so…molecules…Wow” or “So…uh…what kind are frogs?”), aimless staring, and general disrespect and time-wasting.
I’m glad you got your point across without being insulting. Honestly, I don’t know that I’d be able to do that. My run-ins with students of altered consciousness (would that be the PC term for “stoned” or “drunk”?) have not been pleasant. (I never thought that stoned people could be all that aggressive until I had to drag a guy out of lab and tell him not to come back until the following week.) This quarter, I actually made a point of telling my students that people under the influence would not be allowed to work in the lab. So far, everything’s been going OK for me in that respect.
I think it’s great that you managed to tell your student that you didn’t find his pot stench acceptable without making him resent you.
Well, people react differently when they’ve already made up their minds to do something.
Totally hear you about not wanting AC people working in the lab, though. I shudder to think of the potential dangers you’ve described.
There was a time when Mr. Rilch (film electrician) turned a blind eye to cow-orkers who were under the influence while working. “If they say they need it…” But after his first experience with the bud, he vowed that if anyone working alongside him was toking, he would refuse to work with them, and if he was gaffing or key-gripping, he would boot them off the set. “I don’t want anyone up in the perms saying, ‘I’ll just let these par cans float to the ground’. Or worse, ‘The ladder’s too far away; I can rappel down these cables’.”
Though I did see him in class Monday, we’ll see if he comes Wednesday. I am not his academic advisor so I do not know if he applied to drop my class. I have to sign the paper work, as of yet I haven’t seen it. I do hope he doesn’t resent me. But Scribble I don’t know yet. He’s young and very bright. But I am not wholly convinced he’s up for this class yet.
As for Rilchiam, WOW! I’d hate to think people working on a set are inebriated… I hope you don’t work with pyrotechnics…
