"If Teachers Would Only..." How Students View Their College Experience

Abstract

For a period of some eighteen months I asked classes to complete this sentence in a short written statement: "My college life would be easier and more productive if teachers would only .... " This teaching note is based on some 130 replies. The responses fall into several categories: Some are predictably whiny, juvenile, insipid, and immature. Others are self-revealing in ways students might not even intend. Still others are surprisingly perceptive and on the mark, with very practical advice for faculty. Nearly all can teach us teachers something about the mentality and attitudes of this generation of students, which, not so incidentally, might be very different from when we were college undergraduates. They can be broken down into some half dozen broad areas: l) how teachers test; 2) time management by both students and teachers; 3) the style in which teachers present their classes and course material; 4) explaining course requirements; 5) how teachers connect or fail to connect with their students; and 6) miscellaneous observations and suggestions.