Disappointing chaos
An essay…
I wish I could claim today’s essay’s title as my idea. It is clever and much on point. Our department’s secretary has an English degree and she comes up with the funniest and quirkiest quips ever. I love it. She is very smart and articulate. We often discuss books, shows, and current events. Our conversations are diverse and interesting.
She came up with this phrase “disappointing chaos” as I was describing certain aspects of academic life. One of these aspects was the entitled behavior of students. This is not a new topic or a topic rarely discussed. A quick search on X (formerly Twitter and increasingly hard to call it X), a Google search, or a search on any social media outlet will result in a wide range of memes, posts, jokes, and gifs about this entitlement .
It was not until recently, meaning this semester, that I realized how different it is to teach a GenEd. My experience thus far has been teaching concentration students. And while there are problems of entitlement and others, they tend to be concentrated in smaller doses by comparison. Or they tend to be one student where the larger group for the most part pushes back at the student because they want to learn. Yes, there are ups and downs even on those committed students but that is life.
What has been very hard for me to get used to is the entitled behavior of few students in my GenEd class. The majority of the students however, do their work, are eager to be there, enjoy the class, and love it. The challenges and overall experiences with these few have left me at a loss for words and what I like to refer to as an “extended denial” on my part to accept it and act accordingly.
To be fair, these few students are somewhat sheltered and address their performance from that perspective. In doing so often and consistently, I have felt from them an excessive and overblown confidence. One that almost feels like I am there to serve them. Which unsurprisingly, it has left me with a sense of defeat and frustration, not to mention deep confusion and sadness.
I thrive when my students grow and I can see that growth. I thrive when they see that they are learning and getting better at whatever the topic is. My deepest joy is those “aha!” moments. That is the best high one could ever strive for. It is indescribable. Proof of that is that I have kept some of these projects decorating my office. To me, teaching and learning is a collaborative experience. There is no synergetic flow if there is no communication and exchange. The best environment for that flow is one where there is transparency on both sides. The students who understand their responsibility in their education and contribute to enriching others as well as themselves, are a vital and crucial component for an environment in which we both thrive. I learn as much as they learn. Each experience that a student provides enriches my practice and creativity which in turn I pour back into the classroom. That is the way I feel it should be.
I made a pact with the class. In exchange for exams, we would have creative projects and short essays. The caveat is that for each essay they have to provide specifics about the content as if I know nothing or I wasn’t there. In short, it is a personal reflection to prove to me they were there and took notes. They choose five questions out of 30 questions provided. I want them to think about what we were doing, reflect, and provide me with the details that meant most to them. This is by no means a hard assignment. We have had several guests speakers, demos, field trips, and we still have more to come.
I am now wondering if I made a mistake and should have stuck with the traditional lecture model: read, quiz, lecture, reviews, exams (midterms and final). I wanted the class to enjoy the content. The students are from all over the university and being that this is a GenEd, most of them know very little about art. I wanted them to see how rich and how much the arts impact them without even being aware of it. Recently I discussed the crawl from Start Wars, how it was done, and the influence for it. I also showed them the first animated movie ever and the idea of movement as data and movement as image in the arts. I had fun preparing that talk. So much fun!
See, I do not believe in the adage that the students do not care. If you are sitting in the class, in my class, I am going to assume you care and you want to learn until you prove me wrong. Sadly, I am about to say that I was proven wrong at least in the instance of the students I referred above. Not because it is a general behavioral issue, no. But because I caught one of them using AI to write the personal reflection. The percentage the engine gave me when I ran it: 100%. Before you go all devil’s advocate on me; no, AI is not allowed in class. Not even a little bit. Not for a personal essay.
This week is Spring Break. I needed this break. Not only do I need to catch up on a bunch of stuff for our study abroad trip to Paris (which by the way, it is approved!), but several other things are on my to-do list. But in the back of my head my thoughts are spinning about what to do moving forward. And how.
You might recall in January my post The Joy of It? I explained the little time I had to prepare for this class and the challenges around it. Still I went in with this joy, this genuine joy of teaching this class. It does allow me to do what I love: research. So, I really love teaching Art App and would love to teach it again.
I have talked to other professors in the department who teach GenEds. Based on those conversations, the behavior I explained in this post is common and even expected. I realized as I said above, how different it is to teach concentration classes to GenEds. There are still problems but the problems in GenEd seem to be particular to not having a common goal; a concentration in common. Several educators have wondered whether GenEds are needed or not. I can see both sides of the equation. But my point is this: no matter the profession or the money their career affords, there will always be the need to have basic knowledge of culture, arts, economics, politics, social issues, and literature. Who wants to go to dinner with someone who has no conversation, no education, and no intellectual breadth? Negotiations and business deals happen on networking and networking implies social skills and the ability to pivot and improvise. Where will a student learn these skills and to have a baseline knowledge of how the world works if not in GenEd classes?
The arts are not simply in our life and humanity to make pretty or ugly pictures as the case might be. The arts are there and have been there to be witnesses to our history, to our society, to our shared humanity, the mess we make, the struggles we go through, and the ups and downs of trying to cohabitate in a messy world. The arts stand in our place when we are gone. The arts raise their voice to say this is what happened and how it was. The arts in a much more eloquent manner communicate the customs, traditions, beliefs, and struggles of each time period. You can read the history of course. But the artists of said history certainly have testified in their works what it was for them. Read, yes, but also look.
Love,
Alma