Some Heretical Thoughts on What Our Students Are Telling Us
There is a time, twice a year, when those of us who teach introductory courses sit down in a comfortable chair, pour ourselves a middling portion of single malt Scotch whisky, and begin to read the comments that students write about our teaching. For the overall ratings, numerical in nature, we can bear to wait—the computer will dutifully compile these single point undifferentiating indicators. What we settle down to read are the “free-style comments,” where the students are encouraged to write (anonymously, of course) what they think of the book, the exams, and, of course, of the lecturer. Many, not all, universities give students the opportunity to express themselves in this way. Some of us have learned to avoid asking silly questions with predictable responses, such as “What is the best part of the course?” So we sit down, perhaps turning on some Chopin to complement the whisky, and face those student responses. Many are positive, as (with a trace of mild astonishment) “I didn’t think I’d like chemistry, but Prof. Coppola made it fun!,” “I actually enjoyed going to the lectures,” or “I didn’t get a very good grade, but I sure learned a lot.” It’s not always easy for a student (or us) to say a word of praise, to give thanks graciously harder still. Positive feelings generally wash over us leaving small marks. Happiness is often diffuse. But pain is sharp—the small pain of a torn cuticle, the stronger incapacitating pain of a broken bone. Or, negating the validity of the familiar litany “sticks and stones . . . ” the mental anguish of reading an evaluation such as “Prof. Hoffmann spends all his time on digressions, relating chemistry to politics, history, God knows what else. Who cares how hemoglobin or catalytic converters work? I want to know what’s on the MCATs.” Or “I got an A by memorizing equations and doing exam problems that were exactly like the problems that I had seen on the previous tests . . . ” Or, “As far as I am concerned I did not need to go to class.”