Spring is here, and with it comes the end of the semester trainwrecks caused by the flood of papers, projects and presentations that collide head on at the same time. This is also the time for what I call “The Revenge of the student” — end of semester student evaluations.
Of course, student evaluations are always a toss of the dice and, like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. The standard form is the “Woods Form” with its seven circles of hell, from 1 (the worst) to a 7 (just this side of heaven).
In the Humanities department at Firelands, students fill out a blue sheet that asks a series of questions about the instructor and the course. These are always a treat, as you never really know what students will write in the comments section.
Last June, I received my packet of blue sheets in the campus mail from the department chair. I always take time to look at them individually; they are supposed to enable the instructor to make or not make changes to the course. The comments section of these sheets, if filled out, usually say something nice. But every once in a while you will get the odd comment.
As I worked through the pile, most were generally complimentary. Then I ran across the first critical comment. Of course, these are done anonymously so the students can be candid in their responses.
The first critical one answered negatively as to the content and instruction quality. Then I read comments: “This guy does not belong in a classroom but on a barstool at the local VFW.” When I read this, I burst out laughing and nodded my head thinking about the times I have told stories to my classes about the military and life before academia. That is one of the hazards of having a full life under your belt and beginning teaching at age 55.
I came to the next “critical” blue sheet, one I have framed on the wall of my home office. I did this so as not to forget the mission I have as a teacher at the university level. Again, the student was very negative, but the comments section surpassed all others. He expressed what he thought was a personal attack on my character.
His comment was one long pejorative and although it might offend some, I am going to report it as it was written. The criticism was, “This instructor is a f***ing n***er loving hippie.” Now, my first inclination was to laugh out loud, then I became incensed over the “hippie” part because I was overseas in the military in the late 1960s and missed out on all of the love and peace fun stuff.
After a while, I thought, “Wow, I must have really pushed some buttons on this student.” My goal is to foster critical thinking skills, enable my students to see the world from different perspectives and think outside the box. Did the course contain material that threatened his world view?
A lot of my students come from “white cocoons,” where diversity is just another word and the world looks the same, day after day. That is why the university’s traditional role is to challenge these preconceptions of the world.
But are we succeeding? For the most part, I think we have temporary success at best. I saw these comments as a symptom of the larger problems we face in this world.
In the new “skill set academic world” we are presented with in the 21st century, is critical and thoughtful thinking going to be the first casualty?
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