Subject: Satire On Classroom Dynamics
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PODers:
A colleague suggested I post the satirical piece below. It relates to some
recent postings and reminds us that a sense of humor is vital.
I should mention that I distribute this to the students in my mass lecture
class and it generates some very good discussion.
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"I Am Not A TV": Confessions of A Professor
I am not a TV! That is what I repeatedly tell my students. But I'm not
sure they get it, because when I tell them this they continue to stare at me
with expressionless faces. Again, they have failed to see the profound
insight, or even the humor, of my observation. Again, they confirm my
thesis.
How did I come to the revelation that, in the eyes of my students, I am a
television set? As a sociologist I should probably say that I arrived at
this proposition after many years of careful data collection and observation
in undergraduates courses with disengaged students. But that would be
untrue. In fact, for many years I never really noticed student expressions
and demeanor. Fresh out of graduate school, with an abundance of
self-important intellectual energy coupled with some nervousness about
public speaking, the strategy was to lecture endlessly. I would just focus
on a spot above the students heads at the back of the class and pontificate
on things sociological. However, over time, as I became more self-confident
and also more concerned with classroom dynamics, I thought it might be worth
taking a peek at their faces. This was a big mistake.
Most of the students either stared at me with no expression whatsoever --
even when I attempted a joke, or asked a question, or launched into an
animated diatribe -- or they were looking elsewhere (like out the window,
or at their notebooks, or at one another). Occasionally, some would just get
up and walk out of the classroom and then return a few moments later.
Either no eye contact, glazed eye contact, or total disregard for my human
existence. And then it hit me -- they think I'm a TV.
How else can you explain this behavior? When we watch TV -- let's say a
standup comic -- we can wear any expression we want, we can fail to laugh at
the jokes, we can fall asleep, we can go the fridge for a beer. None of this
has any impact on the comic. It continues to perform because it cannot see
us. Students treat professors the same way. They assume we canÕt see them.
So, it makes no difference what they do. Under these circumstances, why
should students bother wasting valuable energy on social niceties like a nod
of the head, a smile, or any other social cue acknowledging the humanity of
the instructor.
I once had a student who sat in the front row sleeping through the
entire class period. At the end of class I told him he would be more
comfortable sleeping in a bed. He was incredibly embarrassed, horrified,
and shocked that I had caught him engaging in this deviant academic
behavior, even though he committed the crime directly beneath my nose. Did
he think I was blind? Did he think I was totally insensitive to his
behavior? No, he thought I was a talking head who could not see the
television audience.
Another form of antisocial classroom behavior, that further cements the
case for my thesis, is represented by the student who strolls (some actually
strut), into class ten minutes late, right in front of the lecturing
instructor. It is often the same student who, 15 minutes later, gets up to
leave the class, only to schlep (they are now getting tired) back in 5
minutes later, with absolutely no self-conscious awareness of the social
impact of these actions. I should report that this behavior is clearly on
the rise. There are a number of possible explanations. Maybe there is an
evolutionary process underway involving a shrinking bladder capacity. Maybe
students are much more active today in the stock market and must constantly
contact their broker. Or, what I really suspect, students donÕt believe a
TV set will mind one way or the other.
There is a well-known concept in sociology called the looking-glass self.
It says that our sense of self is shaped by the reactions of others. Now,
if my sense of self hinged on the reaction of my students, I would be
selling advertising time to commercial sponsors or maybe trying to figure
out a way to convert myself into a full screen model (it's a good thing I
don't come with a remote).
I am now in the habit of confronting students about their classroom
demeanor and making comments to students when they walk into class late.
Students really hate this. They long for the good old days when I stared at
the back of the room and lectured to the collective unconscious. But those
days are past and my student evaluations reflect it. After all, who wants a
TV that not only observes the viewer but evaluates their behavior. How would
you like it if your TV could comment on your posture (ÒdonÕt slouchÓ) or
your eating habits (Òdo you really need that second piece of cheesecake?Ó).
So, I am not sure what strategy to pursue. However, I have been
entertaining the idea of taping myself lecturing and then having media
services televise the lectures to my students. This would make student
behavior perfectly congruous with the educational delivery mode. I would
also be integrating technology and teaching (some people think this is
important). Yes, a true televersity! Don't worry, I would still hold
office hours and attend department meetings. And if students missed a
lecture they could always catch a rerun.
David Jaffee teaches sociology at SUNY-New Paltz.
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David Jaffee
Department of Sociology
SUNY-New Paltz
New Paltz, NY 12561
(914) 257-3509
email: jaffeed@npvm.newpaltz.edu
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