I do wonder about the limit of duty of care that can realistically be provided by a lecturer. If a conflict in the Middle East disturbs a student, is the lecturer the right person to provide care in the first place? Or is it an indication of the ever-increasing responsibility of academics to do things outside their expertise? Food for thought!
EXCELLENT POINT. I’m not a counsellor or a psychologist. Not my job. I pass a student on to a professional, always. The point is rather - they should be able to raise it with me and THEN I pass them on to a professional who can counsel them, or give them special consideration, or whatever.
Wonderful sentiments and a fantastic attitude, reminds me a little of the regretted Ian Malkin and Howard Luntz.
Unfortunately there is an increasingly Stalinist approach to these things, under which "not enthusiastically for" is interpreted in complete bad faith as "against". There was some of this already when I was at school and at uni, I can only imagine from what I hear (including from my kids) that it has gotten worse.
I hope that you do not have many if any such in your classes.
I am a former Assistant Professor and I agree with you on everything. Well, this resonates with me very deeply.
However, I have been in difficult situations. This one time, a Muslim student in my Ethics class, thought that I would look at her whenever I would speak of Islam or at that time a very hotly debated judgment on triple talaq in class. In reality, I actually would make eye contact with most students while teaching. When one of her friends told me this, I was actually taken aback, because I don’t go to the classroom with any biases. To me they are all the same. Sometimes it’s also them projecting their insecurities (please help me if there’s a better word for this). I still believe that if she had talked to me about this, I would have definitely tried to understand the root cause. But she chose not to, and I respect that. Sometimes, a lot of things are based on presumptions and probably an outcome of a student’s continuous negative experiences as a student. I believe in many situations, we can only do so much, even if we have the best intentions.
Oh goodness it’s really awkward when someone misreads you like that. I had it happen to me once, and I was horribly shocked. I was just describing the facts of a case entirely accurately, but someone took offence. I was able to show that I had actually quoted from the defendant’s evidence.
To me, my students are just *people* first and foremost: sounds like the same for you.
I do wonder about the limit of duty of care that can realistically be provided by a lecturer. If a conflict in the Middle East disturbs a student, is the lecturer the right person to provide care in the first place? Or is it an indication of the ever-increasing responsibility of academics to do things outside their expertise? Food for thought!
EXCELLENT POINT. I’m not a counsellor or a psychologist. Not my job. I pass a student on to a professional, always. The point is rather - they should be able to raise it with me and THEN I pass them on to a professional who can counsel them, or give them special consideration, or whatever.
This makes me think about how universities should have dedicated mental health resources for those in need.
Wonderful sentiments and a fantastic attitude, reminds me a little of the regretted Ian Malkin and Howard Luntz.
Unfortunately there is an increasingly Stalinist approach to these things, under which "not enthusiastically for" is interpreted in complete bad faith as "against". There was some of this already when I was at school and at uni, I can only imagine from what I hear (including from my kids) that it has gotten worse.
I hope that you do not have many if any such in your classes.
Ps: also sometimes encountered amongst fusion devotees in law faculties 😅
I am a former Assistant Professor and I agree with you on everything. Well, this resonates with me very deeply.
However, I have been in difficult situations. This one time, a Muslim student in my Ethics class, thought that I would look at her whenever I would speak of Islam or at that time a very hotly debated judgment on triple talaq in class. In reality, I actually would make eye contact with most students while teaching. When one of her friends told me this, I was actually taken aback, because I don’t go to the classroom with any biases. To me they are all the same. Sometimes it’s also them projecting their insecurities (please help me if there’s a better word for this). I still believe that if she had talked to me about this, I would have definitely tried to understand the root cause. But she chose not to, and I respect that. Sometimes, a lot of things are based on presumptions and probably an outcome of a student’s continuous negative experiences as a student. I believe in many situations, we can only do so much, even if we have the best intentions.
P.S: That was a class of 500 students.
Oh goodness it’s really awkward when someone misreads you like that. I had it happen to me once, and I was horribly shocked. I was just describing the facts of a case entirely accurately, but someone took offence. I was able to show that I had actually quoted from the defendant’s evidence.
To me, my students are just *people* first and foremost: sounds like the same for you.