Another listserv posting:
I thank you all for stimulating and provocative thoughts about students,
customers, clients, et. al. In the 60's, I was so fortunate to have had
time and money to attend a small liberal arts college. There,
unencumbered by "outside" demands, I immersed myself in my studies, in
campus life, in the "pursuit of knowledge" - and I had a marvelous time.
But the world is so different for "students" today. I read this morning
the self-introductions I invited my online students to offer. Almost to
a person, they wrote of children and spouses and full-time jobs and
volunteer work and mid-life career changes. You all know as well as I
the extraordinary demands on our students' time and resources, and that
by necessity many pursue certificates and degrees that may lead to
better jobs, stability, and some degree of financial safety for
themselves and their families. No wonder, then, that they and we are
confused about how to think of them. Even those-and there are quite a
few--that write how much they love to read, to talk about their ideas
with classmates and professors, are beset with other demands, and so
they squeeze in their assignments and their brief intellectual exchanges
at one in the morning, or between a hurried dinner and putting kids to
bed.
In finding the best ways to help all of them to reach their goals, we
might borrow some notes from a customer service manual-each one should
be the center of our attention-and from the professional-client
relationship, and from the classic professor/student : guide/novice
models. Some students will take away only what they must have to
survive; others will surprise and delight us with their commitment to
academic excellence and an intellectual life. Maybe we need to remain
flexible about how we think of them, recognizing that there simply is no
one kind of student anymore.
David
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