The Entitled Student – True Confessions of a Junior Faculty Member

Each year we “gird our loins” and attempt to make learning fun and exciting while we also propagate the appropriate responsibility and professionalism required for our specific disciplines. In the shuffle of each new year we share the successes and failures of the previous semester with our colleagues, brainstorm ideas for increasing retention, and share articles and other resources to boost one another’s creativity. In the midst of this positive energy, however, there are many educators who are quick to point out “what not to do” in the classroom. For example, “Don’t employ lecturing as your only teaching style because it is only beneficial for one learning modality.” As educators I think we have all been in both situations, either staunchly holding on to a proven teaching method which over time has grown stale and dull, or being quick to criticize the work of our colleagues.

Now that we have gingerly crossed into the twenty-first century, educators are being faced with a new challenge — a challenge that our own society has created and one which requires us to work even more closely as colleagues to remedy. As Hal Rice accurately describes in his article, “The Changing Student”, we are faced with two emerging forms of students. The first breed of student has been trained to de-value the pursuit of knowledge for personal gratification and thus places the sole value of an education upon the salary it will generate for him/her upon graduation. The second breed of student has evolved from our once beloved non-traditional students who used to compensate for our younger student’s… shall we say, charm. Unfortunately, there is a trend among non-traditional students to sink to the same level of discipline as their younger classmates. With the changing attitudes, and dare I say temperaments, of our students, how should we adjust as educators to meet these new challenges in the classroom?

I believe that the first step towards addressing these new issues is to start from a personal and professional level. As educators we must remember to refresh ourselves through conferences and other opportunities for professional growth. At a recent faculty retreat, the chairman of my department proceeded to ask the faculty questions which directly related to our approach as educators. Some of the questions he posed included:

• How often do you update your syllabi?
• How often do you change your resources and texts?
• How often do you try new teaching styles and approaches?
• How often do you go to conferences or take classes?

While the value of personal and professional development can never be measured, I believe that there is a larger issue which needs to be addressed. As our students and world continue to rapidly change around us we are expected to make similar shifts. I fear, however, that higher education has made too many concessions, or at least has accidentally abandoned some fundamental standards that we hold so dear.

In keeping with the need to constantly evaluate my material and teaching styles, I attempt to utilize a variety of techniques, media, and technology in my classes. As Rice points out, however, current students are less willing to make the necessary adjustments for higher education. For the educational process to succeed, the students must still equip themselves for class. If the student doesn’t read an assignment, then it doesn’t matter if I lecture or if I have a class discussion, creative project, or multimedia presentation. As educators, are we spinning our metaphorical wheels in an attempt to “razzle dazzle” our students instead of focusing on the truly pertinent materials.

For the student who does not prepare for class, it is obvious that they will probably do poorly in the course. The question that all educators struggle with is why some students specifically choose to not invest in their education. I believe that there are three scenarios which can describe what is happening in our classrooms.

1) The “good” students in the class who do their work end up becoming frustrated by those who are slacking off. The “slackers” and their apparent lack of engagement hinder the progress of the course. The “good” students then begin to devalue the education received in this course and ultimately question the competency of the professor.

2) The “bad” students are “bad” because they have developed poor study skills which have not been addressed by previous teachers. If the student genuinely has an issue or problem, the professor may be less willing to believe them if fantastical excuses have been previously used. This in turn creates a cyclical pattern where the student may become discouraged and completely give up in the class or on his/her personal education in general.

3) Teachers are faced with three types of students in their classes: those students who do rise to the top, those in the middle, and those whose attitudes are less than idyllic. The professor must decide if they are approaching their class from an ensemble perspective or simply willing to let the stragglers make the choice not to learn. Is one approach to teaching better than the other? Such questions only breed frustration within the professor which can ultimately lead to complacency and can extinguish every flicker of passion and creativity.

That being said, I believe that today’s educators are finding themselves in a delicate and often frustrating situation. Yes, students are different today than they were even five years ago. Yes, educators do need to adapt and change their approaches to parallel contemporary society. However, just like raising children, we can’t always give our children what they want because as parents we realize that there are things which might hurt them. At the same time we must instill within them the desire and yearning to be independent learners. Fostering and supporting their interests in the hope that they will develop a drive towards success, dedication, and passion should be one of our primary goals. At the same time, there is something to be said about maintaining the high levels and standards utilized by educators for hundreds of years. The goal of having students exhibit professionalism and dedication in their work and classroom behavior should be a requirement and never an elective.

Attending a college or university should be fun and exhilarating, but the focus on education and personal growth should never take a back seat. While I don’t advocate creating unachievable requirements, I do suggest we revive the academic standards which seem to have fallen by the wayside in our attempt to reinvent ourselves as educators and academic institutions. By holding our students to these higher levels of quality, we too must break free from the bastions of our ivory towers and notice the changing world around us. May we never forget that learning is a life-long process and the need to continue studying and staying active within our own discipline is paramount.

Online learning or technology-enhanced learning is beneficial because we can further the trend of readily accessible information and learning tools for our students. We must also realize the benefits that multimedia can have for our students and that it allows us to address all learning styles and modalities. What the student does with all of that readily accessible information, however, is entirely up to them.

Having raised an entire generation on the availability of point-and-click instant information and gratification, are we now reaping what we sowed? We have taught our children that information does not need to be explored and retained but can be simply looked up on the internet. The notion of critical and conceptual thinking has also been abandoned for a more laissez-faire attitude. Our students may not be able to function critically and analytically, but they sure can regurgitate a writing prompt from a portfolio.

So how do we address these two new “breeds” of students? As I have discussed, it requires two parts for success. First, the educator must introduce new ideas, styles, and technologies into the classroom and the learning process. In addition, we must continue to seek personal excellence in our own scholarly and professional pursuits. Second, with the introduction of these new forms of learning, it is imperative that we do not abandon the principles of higher education or the standards necessary for the success and professional growth of our students. In order to accomplish the second objective, however, it requires us to examine a very taboo subject in higher education.

The notion that not all students are “right” for college or should pursue a college degree has been debated for many years. Recently, it seems that this topic has become even more the focus in academic circles. I believe that we must directly address this issue if we are ever going to make progress. For example, if we were to take the notion of “survival of the fittest” and apply it to higher education, doesn’t it seem natural that not every student will succeed, regardless of the efforts of the instructor or institution? Every year we see students realize that college is not for them. This does not mean that they become second-class citizens simply because they are not pursuing a degree. In fact, many of them become skilled and highly trained workers that those of us with degrees usually rely upon on a daily basis. It is time that we stop blaming ourselves, or being blamed by administration, for this lack of retention.

Education should definitely be available for every single person, regardless of any physical, mental, or economic characteristic. In an age where colleges and universities must beg for every dollar they receive from state and federal funds it is no wonder that such a great emphasis is placed upon retention. The retention of students is then based upon the need for funding instead of the ability and likely success of those same students in an academic or professional setting. Students should not be haphazardly passed through the system for their mediocre work because this simply reinforces their notion that they are paying tuition in order to get an “A”. The notion that an education can be bought, and the accompanying false sense of entitlement, must be destroyed.

Perhaps instead of always figuring out how to make the general student “happy”, we should uphold the notion that going to college and getting a degree is a difficult thing to accomplish. There is a reason we call it “earning” a degree. When we downplay the work and extreme dedication that it takes to get a degree, we begin to see an over-saturation of degree holders who, if truth be told, didn’t fully earn their degree but were simply passed through the system.

In conclusion, we’ve only just begun to address the issue of the changing and entitled student. While we might be able to exact change through the introduction of new techniques, technologies, professional growth, and the adherence to the standards of higher education; this is merely a theory. The only proven thing that we can do as educators, however, is to simply do our part and to let the students do theirs. I believe that we can further qualify our “part” by providing a model for our students to follow. Are we teaching just to get paid or are we doing it because we love what we do? When educators create a genuineness in the classroom and create intellectual relationships with students, then we show how invested we truly are in their education and future. The power that we have as educators is not based on our use of technology or on our disciplinary skills, but in our ability to connect on a personal level with our students…a connection which will always surpass any technology or learning modality.