Saturday, November 04, 2006

My Daunting Assignment, Should I Choose to Accept It

In the comments of my previous post, Tony, in his gentle and tactful way, basically told me to quit complaining and investigate why I continue to feel frustrated by my students' choice of paper topics. He, in essence, gave me my own writing assignment--identify a problem and solve it.

So, as the good student, I submit my essay.

As a writing teacher who likes to keep up with what is going on in the world, even if I don’t necessarily understand it all, I am continually frustrated by my college students’ lack of interest in topics beyond their normal circle of everyday movement. The issues that typically trouble the average college student—judging from their paper topics—are campus parking, dating, sex, sports, music, celebrities, beer, and marijuana. Every semester it seems, my students are less and less inclined to talk about larger national or world issues. Oh sure, they will engage in a conversation about, say, capital punishment, but their minds are made up on the issue. Invariably, a small handful of students in the classroom will offer the standard, trite arguments against capital punishment, while the majority of the class will regurgitate the same old tired diatribe in favor of executing criminals. The same holds true for hot topics of the day such as illegal immigration, or a few years ago, gun control. It seems that students make up their minds based on the standard tag lines that the media feed them (or that they hear from their parents), and they feel no need to further research the issue for themselves—unless they are forced to write a paper about it, and then they typically ignore sources that are contrary to their sensibilities.

More and more, in order to ensure a lively classroom discussion, I find that I must put myself into the shoes of an eighteen to twenty-year-old and learn what topics interest them and then bring those topics to class. However, this is a tiresome undertaking. I have about as much interest in MySpace and Facebook and music downloads as they have in political scandals or the wars of words that the United States engages in with other countries. Even when I try to bring up issues that I think they will realize will have an effect on them, such as privacy of their Internet searches, they dismiss them with an attitude along the lines of, “As long as it catches terrorists, I don’t see a problem.” Unless they can clearly see how an issue will directly impact their sphere of existence today, that issue is of little or no importance.

Most college students today do not have the imagination to envision how seemingly unrelated, unimportant events can, when viewed at the same time, come to affect their small world. They need to realize that the things that are happening in Washington and the events that are occurring half a world away in a place they will likely never visit will eventually come to touch their lives. Because my students have grown up with a cell phone attached to one ear and an iPod earbud in the other, with their hands busy at the keyboard while their eyes are glued to MTV, they have become numb to anything but the adolescent drama of their, and their friends’, lives. Events in another country might as well be taking place on another planet for as much as these young people are concerned. Until today’s college students either experience directly or can vividly imagine just how much discomfort today’s world events can bring to their lives, they will continue to remain isolated in their own little electronic worlds with their hormone-fueled, reality show existences.

And until I can figure out a way to prod some imaginative thinking, I'll continue to be frustrated at having to meet the teenage mind exclusively in its teenage world.


Tony, my essay is turned in well ahead of the deadline and contains 287 more words than the 300 word minimum that you imposed. I have also given you a shameless plug. I expect extra credit.

6 comments:

JMG said...

Thanks for your great comments, M. I think one thing I have to do is force myself to get into their shoes more. I'm going to have to remember back to the time before I had very few responsibilities other than school and a part time job. I'm going to have to exercise my imagination and try to relate to the types of problems that they face. If I can show them that I'm willing to get into their shoes, then maybe they will be enticed to get into others' shoes and think farther than themselves.

Tony Arnold said...

Did I ever mention that I am an Edward Deming disciple and I believe ranking and grading are detrimental to learning?

So no grade. Excellent illumination of the problem, no rework required.

I think you should publish this on your class site. Reading this may provide your students insight into your process and heart for teaching. It might just be the prod that gets them to think a little deeper.

Hope it was therapeutic for you to communicate your frustrations. I think most of us share this frustration.

Thanks for the shameless plug, but now I have to go write something.

They don't know it JMG, but your students are very blessed. I wish I had English teachers like yourself.

Tony

JMG said...

But, but, but, without a grade, I won't feel validated!

Thanks for the encouraging words, Tony.

JMG said...

Justin, you had a few grammar errors yourself! :-)

Actually, you always did write good content--that's what earned you an A. It would have been interesting to have you in my 1020 class to see what you had to say about controversial issues. But I guess I can read your blog for that.

And no, I don't think I was blogging at the time, so I didn't post any of your funny sentences.

JMG said...

I just looked in my files, and I don't have that one either. However, I still have your movie review of Ladder 49.

Ayatollah Mugsy said...

I saw a survey awhile back that said a majority of teens think the press should be censored by the government. I fear for the future of the youth of this country. And I am only 5 years old.