As we head towards mid terms, I hear the same complaints from students. They think we should get together so that everything doesn't hit at the same time and make their life harder. Well, I have a message for these young folks- when things hit the fan, they hit at the same time and when it's not convenient. This is a life lesson college teaches.
Contrary to popular belief we don't get around and conspire how best to stress out students or complicate their time. I haven't actually spoken with any of the professors in Chemistry about my Organic Chemistry class, and the only reason I discuss biology is because I'm covering for an absent worker who's out for health reasons and have to make sure things are kept up to par.
I decide when things are due based on when it makes the most sense for the course. For my second biology exam, there are only two weeks' worth of material. I told them Tuesday it's because Respiration and Mitosis don't really fit well with anything else, and they're a lot to digest, pardon the pun. Rather than load them up with a lot of unrelated things, I'm giving a test on those two topics, then I will move on to genetics. Chemistry works the same way. We're covering oxygen and sulfur compounds and aromatics for the next exam. If it coincides with other due dates, I'm sorry; it's not personal; it's how I think the course is best subdivided.
When we make these decisions, it really is in the best interest of the students. I could do things differently. I could load everything up into two tests and make them all cumulative and laugh maniacally. I don't. I am not here to beat them into submission. I am here to teach them, and not everything they will learn or can learn is on the exam. Take the one young lady for example after my first biology exam who told me she'd decided to rearrange her priorities and study more. Congratulations- you learned something on this exam. Like Gandalf, I tell them I am not trying to rob them or hurt them; I do what I do to help them.
Not all professors care about the students. Many of them love the subject, but too few love those to whom they subject the subject. Too many of them misunderstand our relationship. The students pay us up front to deliver, and we owe them the best job we can for the price we ask. It's only fair, and it's what we demand when we transact with people outside of academia. We work for them.
Contrary to popular belief, professors are there to serve you. No, we don't give you the answers. No, we don't hand you a degree. No, we don't teach you to answer questions. The good among us teach you how to solve problems, how to make solutions, because that will make you an asset and successful no matter where you end up professionally. I know. I have been kept by employers because I could do and would do things other people could not. They know I'm the go-to guy for solutions, figuratively and literally. I'll show you how.
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