Sometimes the “real world” gets priority
By Hannah Leifheit and Kristin Busch
Earlham has a diverse population, and not just one of varied religious beliefs, countries of origin or languages spoken.
Some students choose to procrastinate or to sleep through your class. But please don’t generalize every late assignment or poorly written paper as coming from such places.
What if James in your Monday- Wednesday-Friday Comparative Practice is a slow reader? Maybe Emily, who’s taking the Tuesday- Friday class of yours, never learned how to write an essay in high school.
At Earlham, we pride ourselves on analysis and discussion-based classes. However, sometimes the analysis is sacrificed so that other work can get done.
If students are absent, don’t assume they’re faking sick or hung over. Some may be, but other students may be out in the community, consoling a friend or dealing with a tragedy at home.
And yes, we should vocalize this to you. I feel like professors become too easily frustrated at students presumably not working and broadly generalize apparent unpreparedness exhibited by some as all due to the same thing. I’m not saying hold our hands, but try to perceive the whole picture before thinking that a situation is unfolding as you think it is.
Many professors often say, “I know you have other classes.” However, they then choose to not take into account a) those acknowledged other classes and b) the fact that this campus is our life, we live here.
And YES, it is our choice to do what we do. But this is our home for nearly eight months out of the year and few professors see how we live.
They don’t see the dorms. Very few see Saga. They don’t witness the conversations that take place at two in the morning that change our view of the world and challenge our preconceived notions of what’s real. Faculty and staff do quite a bit too, but at the end of the day the campus doesn’t turn off.
I get restless sitting in class sometimes, thinking of all I could get done if I hadn’t gone. Because it’s not just homework that we ink on our arms or pen down in our planners. Other things could be accomplished, more REAL things. Like scholarship applications, email correspondence regarding an upcoming event, program proposals and résumé drafting.
Earlham’s motto, “Engaging with a changing world” suggests that we do just that. The difficulty lies in coming to terms with the fact that the “world” desired is outside the classroom, not found in the pages of the paper we’re writing.
We yearn for the applicable real-life experiences work study jobs, Bonner and Earlham Volunteer Exchange (EVE) offer students. We latch on to the humanity around us, the stimulation outside the textbook.
Maybe after going out THERE into the community, seeing the world OUTSIDE the Earlham Bubble, I realized that what I was doing IN HERE wasn’t as applicable as the work I could do out THERE.
Classes are academically challenging here, so how does one do the classes along with anything else? There’s athletics (varsity or otherwise), volunteering, work study, student government, music groups, etc.
Sometimes, you have to CHOOSE what homework to do. It angers me when I don’t finish it all, when I’m in class wanting to learn, but lack preparedness. And the worst thing is trying to explain to a professor that I’m not slacking. Their homework just wasn’t the priority last night.
Earlham isn’t going to change overnight, but something has to give. Ask any student and they know someone who has left Earlham: a roommate, teammate, friend. Those of us still here then do even more because this place has to keep functioning.
This system is clearly not working. We shouldn’t be dropping like flies to every illness, we shouldn’t be so drained after helping a friend, we aren’t healthy. We cough, cry, and sweat then get a 70% on your test and listen to your disappointment. We are disappointed too, because we also want to do it all.
On a more technical note, some organization could help eliminate our margin of error and your inefficiency. Use your syllabus to tell us EXACTLY how you want your papers styled. Be obsessive compulsive.
And if your class lasts until the “fifty” or “twenty,” we’re not intentionally disrespecting you when we get up to leave. We just may need to get to another class or commitment. Most likely in ANOTHER building.
The issue of understanding students is not impossible to overcome. Some professors take on wayward students, working with them though they are not part of their department.
Get to know each of us; we don’t bite. Some of us really care about what you have to teach and we could learn so much better if you respected what we do and who we are.
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