I gave two finals today. The number of dead grandmothers was, surprisingly, zero, although I did have a case of mono and an emergency heart surgery pop up at the last minute.
But something else happened that was new to me. The last topic we visited in my ESP and Aliens course was Satanic ritual abuse, and I showed this documentary. I put a question about it on today's final, in which I asked the students to discuss how certain topics discussed in class entered into the phenomenon.
One student refused to answer the question and asked for another. The topic made her uncomfortable, she said. She had had to leave the showing of the documentary in the first few minutes, she said, because she was so uncomfortable.
Had she stayed another minute or two past the opening credits, she would have learned that the documentary had nothing to do with Satan or abuse (except, perhaps, the abuse of patients while in the care of incompentent healthcare professionals). While I am willing to give my students some leeway to accommodate their religious beliefs and practices (I will, for example, happily reschedule exams and assignments around Pesach and even Simchat Torah), I am unwilling to modify the contents of the class so they can avoid or ignore information that they find personally troubling. Or, more to the point, that they are afraid they might find personally troubling.
The exam proctor gave her a different question, but I am not going to give her substitute credit for it.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
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12 comments:
The student was not trying to cheat the examine or evade your test, she probably has something in her background that was completely beyond her own control, which made her feel uncomfortable in that situation. Allowing her to answer an alternative question, that still allows her to demonstrate comprehension of course material, is not a tremendous inconvienance on your part nor a radical accomadation that unfairly advantages her over the other students in the course.
I doubt the scenario you describe. Regardless, we went through the syllabus quite carefully on the first day of class. She had an entire quarter to look over the readings and, if she chose, to view the documentary on her own time and in safe surroundings. She had a quarter to come to me with her concerns.
Instead she chose to censor the class material without consultation or advice. Too bad for her.
A colleague of mine teaches an anatomy lab that involves formaldehyde, which began in January. Today he received an email from the class instructor saying there was a student who had attended the first lab but no others because he was bothered by the formaldehyde. Because it's now March, he has already missed two lab tests and most of the material required for the final assignment. This is the first my colleague has heard about this student's problem; the student has made no attempts to contact him.
My unsolicited advice was that it's too damn bad and the student should receive the zero he deserves. I suspect, however, that the classroom instructor (who is senior to the lab instructor) will adjust his mark. This possibility provokes a visceral reaction in me.
I suppose the student will continue to wallow in irresponsibility for the rest of his academic career...
You weren't requiring a conversion to satanism from her -- so, even if the documentary were about satanism, she ought to be responsible for the content.
I teach about a lot of controversial topics in my ethics class. I have yet to allow a student to substitute material -- learning about something does not mean adopting it as your own belief. She needs to learn the difference, and it seems that you are going to teach it to her -- good for you!
What exactly did the exam proctor tell her? It doesn't seem right that the proctor could represent to the student that she would be allowed to answer a different question for credit, and that she would be disadvantaged by relying on what the proctor told her.
Even though it sounds like the student wouldn't have done well on the original question, she may have been able to get a few points out of it. Or, if she hadn't spent time answering the alternate question, she could have spent more time and improved her score on other parts of the test.
I don't like the idea that the student gets out of doing what the other students were required to do, but I'm afraid you may be stuck with the proctor's screw-up.
Anonymous #3 - the proctor told her that there was no guarantee that I would give her any credit for the alternative question.
I'm in the clear.
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." --Robert Frost
Or, one might add, without running from the classroom because something has made poor widdle you uncomfortable for a moment.
Stick to your guns, AP!
Love Denever's quote of Robert Frost above; it's on the front page of my blog...and on all my syllabi.
Heading over to Miss Kitty's blog now ...
I'd stick to your guns, were I you.
She (alledgedly) read the syllabus, and had every opportunity to speak with you on the issue, or arrange an alternate.
Delicately-souled litte snowflake will be better off for being exposed to a bit of discomfort.
I find the whole situation confusing - in that how can someone just walk out of a lecture?
I have done that once in the past 3 years at uni, and that was after having to ask permission in front of the whole group...and if we miss a lecture without permission we will either:
i. get told off by the class lecturer or personal tutor (if lucky)
ii. get a letter put into our record about our attendence.
About that Robert Frost line -- where did he say it?
My copy of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th Edition notes Frost: "Education is . . . hanging around until you've caught on."
It gives the date as January 30, 1963, but no further information.
Help!
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