Use Your Damn Email. Grr.
“I make sure to get to class on time just for it to be canceled. USE YOUR DAMN EMAIL. Grr”
–Posted on Facebook, 12 January 2012
About 25 years ago, I was horrified as I read the letters which students had written in support of my nomination for a prestigious teaching award. They thought I should have been awarded the Excellence in Teaching Citation because I was courteous. What really troubled me was the realization that if students thought that courtesy was the main reason I should win the award, it meant that my colleagues were not being courteous.
I again thought of those letters when I read a posting that a former student made on Facebook: “I make sure to get to class on time just for it to be canceled. USE YOUR DAMN EMAIL. Grr.” Given the ease of technological communication, I am in sympathy with my student.
I know that there have been times when I have even e-mailed students in the evening to tell them that I was not feeling well and that they should be sure to read their e-mail before coming to class the next day. The following morning, I send an e-mail informing students whether class is cancelled or not. It is a simple act of courtesy that is easy to accomplish.
I am not passing judgment on this particular faculty member. For example, if the professor had been in an automobile accident on the way to campus, it would not have been possible to send an e-mail to the class. But how often do we not send e-mails when we cannot be in class? How often do we not extend even the simplest acts of courtesy when presented with a student in our office, in the hallway, in our classroom, or somewhere else on campus?
About the same time I was reading the letters of recommendation that my students had written on my behalf, I learned the theory that both violence and non-violence were mimetic. I also learned that something mimetic is imitative; that violence begets violence and that non-violence begins a cycle of non-violence.
His professor’s lack of courtesy brought out the worse in my former student; shouting followed by a “Grr.” Unintentionally, the professor taught the students that she or he was not going to treat them with respect. Early in the semester, the seeds of mutual disrespect had been sown. This act of violence might now be imitated by the students in the class.
Fortunately, because students too often have such low expectations of us, it is easy to earn their respect. An e-mail, a friendly word, some penny candy, or any simple act of courtesy can make them think that we deserve to win an Excellence in Teaching Citation.
It’s just too easy
- –Steven L. Berg, PhD
Robyn Hayes 
Sam Hays 
cathy blackburn 
Steven L. Berg 
Kim 
I find that I have been very lucky since starting at Schoolcraft. I have had mostly amazing teachers. At the risk of sounding like a terrible suck up I consider meeting Doctor Berg one of the highlights of the last ten years. Thus, I was ill prepared for the attitude of my speech instructor earlier this afternoon. He marched into class and sternly told everyone to turn off their cellular phones or just walk out now. As he explained the syllabus added the phrase “… or just walk out now” or a variation thereof to the end of nearly every section of the student expectations list. Frankly, while I had no intention of violating any of the terms he had set I was quite ready to “just walk out now” based on his attitude alone.
I personally have witnessed people doing nearly everything he took issue with at least once since resuming my academic career last Spring. I have been baffled by the disrespectful behavior of my colleges. My very first day of class I was stunned by the sheer number of students walking in more than ten minutes after class began. I was further shocked by how many packed up early and left while the professor was still speaking. As somebody studying to be a teacher myself I can certainly empathise with his plight. But to treat your students as though they are guilty of these things before you have even learned their names is unacceptable behavior.