[lenjan]

Awww, man.

I teach journalism part-time at my alma mater. We are now in week 6, I believe, of 16.

My dept. chair refuses to let me out of my little box, even though I'm capable of teaching other classes, so every freakin' semester I get stuck with the intro course. On the one hand, it's great, because there's very little preparation for each semester -- just some tweaking of the readings and assignments. On the other hand, just how many times can you teach freshmen and sophomores how to write ledes without going mad?

I am so sick my boss actually sent me home today. I have almost no voice, and am sneezing and hacking to death. But, I had two things to do for work anyway, and now I'm up grading papers, and their work just completely sucks rotten eggs.

All I asked for was a short, 3-paragraph news story. I gave them ALL the facts they needed. Soooo, NATURALLY they went and made things up, and tossed in their opinions on the matter, and misspelled the country name (the event took place in Colombia) when I had it spelled right on the fact sheet I gave them.

Somebody please tell me it's not me, it's them, because this is a real confidence killer. I mean, I had grades of 2 and 4 out of 10. Am I expecting too much? Am I not getting through? Does it have anything at all to do with me, or are they just irretrievably stupid?

I dunno. I used to feel a lot worse about stuff like this, and then I decided they were adults, responsible for their own work -- but to see it this bad this far in makes me doubt myself. I usually get at least one freelancer candidate out of my classes, and so far there isn't a one I would recommend to my boss or former boss to write stories for them.

Worst of all, it's almost 11:30 and I can't even go to bed yet -- I have to write a current events quiz!

I used to want to be a professor, but I'm strongly rethinking that!

Candy

[mortimer]

My marketing teacher was such a goof most of the time but he'd get upset for the same reasons. It boils down to: Freshman are immature goof offs, and sophmores kinda are too. Obviously you get some nice ones, but high school students period are crappy to deal with. Haha, I speak from experience, as I am one. XD

Journalism isn't always on everyone's list of most favorite either. High sschool especially, we're young, we can do the work later, we have better things to do. We don't mean it in a way that's meant to hurt you, or make you feel inferior, it's just how we are. We're still young, we can be inmature. If the kids tried hun, they'd get through the class. It's not your fault.

I'd talk about maybe alternating teaching classes or something with your boss though, and why not become a professor on it? At least college students (generally) are there cos they want to and will be mature. Don't hold yourself back!

Hope you feel better soon! *hug*

[h0kie]

Candy,

I think I can relate to how you feel...indirectly. lol When hubby was teaching engineering and math courses at a small college in his hometown he went through something similar.

We went to a large university (it was the best on the east coast for his type of engineering) so he expected those kids to work like he had at *****. They didn't. They were lazy and tried to shortcut assignments. He spent the better part of a semester trying to get them to do better work.

That being said....I don't think you should lower your standards quite yet. Let them try to raise themselves to your standards first. You OBVIOUSLY know what your doing. I would let them know that you cannot and will not allows this shoddy workmanship to continue.

College freshman need a jolt most of the time to realize, "hey, this is college...not high school". There is a different work ethic in college. I had to learn it too.

Since you are teaching journalism, I don't think you can allow fabricated facts or grammatical errors. And if they can't spell the country...spell their grade wrong (if you get my drift...lol) You're right to try and break those habits!

I hope things get better. PM me if you need to talk.

I think you're doing the right thing.

[sqrlb8]

Makes me remember my own Journalism 101 prof. He was the head of the department, probably could have taught any class he chose. He always taught the 101 class. It was his baby. Our assignments were graded on content and handling of subject matter. For misspelling and straying from the assigned task, work was failed and dismissed out of hand. He was ruthless. Half the class was gone by mid term and that to him was as it should be. He was brutally frank about it from day one. He was not there to teach spelling, he said, and if you couldn't use a dictionary or follow instructions you should consider another major. I will never forget him.

[Wants2Fly]

Hi CandyBear --

There is a lot of moaning among the professoriate about declining standards of English. I've heard a lot of it from business and science professors as well, who correctly believe that university students ought to be able to turn in literature work. So whether it is "you," or we are all getting old and cranky, or whether it is the "educational system," I don't know. I will say that my Mom, who attended a trade high school for fashion in New York City at least 50-60 years ago, seems better educated than the students I get. As did my Dad, who subscribed and read weekly news magazines --at a time when they were about world leaders that a child rarely heard about and not Britney Spears.

As for what classes you are allowed to teach:

1. The university accreditation bodies have rules about classes M.A.'s may teach for the college to retain its accreditation. My understanding is that the Southern Collegiate body, which audits the schools records roughly every 3 years (I think), does not sanction teaching higher than sophomore with the M.A. degree. You might to find out what the policies are where teach.

2. FT faculty generally get first pick of courses they want to teach, usually have their own "babies" among the courses they teach, also get sick of teaching basic and required courses. Adjuncts are expected to pick up what the FT don't want, unless, like Rudolf Nureyev or some other "distinguised" professor, they don't need to conform to the rules. Again, you might address this with your chair as an inquiry -- how does the rotation work? -- rather than as a complaint.

For example, I'll bet Garry Wills, whose an "adjunct" professor at Northwestern, is not being paid on the same sorry scale that most of we adjuncts are.