a small rant

margie sent me this quote a couple of weeks ago:
No matter how good teaching may be, each student must take the responsibility
for his own education. ~ John Carolus S.J.

at the time i read it focusing on the first part and posted accordingly. that i'm putting in my all to try to be a clear TA for my students, and that's what i have control over. i can try to be creative to reach them, continue to strive to be clear, but i can't always take it personally when they don't do well.

today though, it's the other side of the coin that's bothering me. "each student must take RESPONSIBILITY for his own education."

i've been grading midterms all week. there are generally three categories
(1) students who do well on weekly quizzes/homework, and are doing well on the exam
(2) students who do poorly on weekly quizzes/homework, and still do poorly on the exam
(3) students who do well on weekly quizzes/homework, and are doing poorly on the exam.

category (1) is good. generally these students ask questions and participate well. they care, and they're trying, and they're fun to interact with. they're getting the grades that both they and i wish everyone would get, and they're generally helpful to their other classmates... not a problem.

category (2) has me frustrated for one reason and category (3) has me frustrated for another.

often, (not always, but often), students in category (2) tend to sit in the back, or not come to class at all, avoid interaction with you, etc. they occasionally ask questions, but not often (there are many venues outside of the classroom to do so if they're shy, i totally get that). i've tried to make myself as approachable as possible for questions, and i get the feeling that students generally perceive me as such... the thing that bothers me here is that repeatedly i've heard (some) students in this category express shock when they get their grades back. it's as if they think they should get "effort points" and they deserve to pass because they're paying tuition... if they can't pass then it's the fault of the course and/or professor somehow. yes, there are hard classes, BUT really, even if i'm nice and give partial credit, i can't reward telling complete lies on quizzes and exams. it's MY responsibility to make sure their grade means something so that they (a) don't get to harder classes unprepared, or (b) get to the job market as an engineer/business person/whatever they choose to do who can't do basic algebra or clearly express themselves on technical things. for that reason, i wish there were more acceptance of responsibility.

yes, students pay educational institutions for an education and should expect good teachers. but educational institutions are also responsible for what the diplomas they hand out mean. just because a student pays tuition and comes to class does not ENTITLE them to a passing grade.

students in category (3) frustrate me for a different reason, which has more to do with me than with them. frequent interactions with them, and their week to week work, and the kinds of questions they ask convince me that they're paying attention and the right ideas are in their head... that they're capable of doing the work... but their exam answers say otherwise. it's like they freeze for the large cumulative work, even if they're paying attention and working hard in general.

i honestly don't know how to help these students get over that and i wish i did. they're working hard and showing effort. their weekly work speaks well of them, but i don't know how to make that translate to exams.

case in point: there's a student from a different professor's section who i've been tutoring for a month and a half. after working intensely with me twice a week all that time, this student had a midterm within the past week and came to our meeting today commenting "so, i've been wasting your time", and showed me a midterm grade exactly the same as last exam, and not a happy one. we sat down and i asked him about the exam questions one by one, and with only one exception, he told me exactly what he should have done next. most of the points he lost were not from telling false things but from leaving entire problems blank that i've seen him ace in the past. both he and i KNOW he knows the stuff... we just don't know why it doesn't come out on the paper during timed exams...

summary:
(1) it bothers me when students don't take responsibility for their own bad grades and feel they're entitled to points for being there
(2) it bothers me even more (since i feel like there should be more i can do about it... unlike the first point) when students who i firmly believe know what's going on and see working hard freeze on exams, and i really wish i could find a way to encourage them to shine in that venue too.

done venting... several more hours of grading to go.

thoughts?