Bitching and Moaning

Hi...

It's the time of semester that my students begin to slack off. While I remind them that Study Skills is the kind of course they should (and can!) all get an A in, they remain staunchly unmotivated by this fact. They're like a pack of fat lazy hungry dogs, who can't be arsed to walk across the room even when you're dangling a big treat five feet away.

Examples, all direct quotations, and my responses to them:
1. Just before class starts. Hand raised in the corner. "Yes?" I ask. "I didn't do my homework." "OK. And?" I reply, shrugging my shoulders. Then I move on to another topic.

2. Same class, different student. "I don't read because I hate reading."
"Well, could knowing how to use the SQ3R Reading Strategy help motivate you to read? If you apply it, you'll be reading the material AND retaining the information...."
"I don't like reading. I don't do it for any of my classes."
"Unlucky for you, then, that college is mostly reading."

3. To a group of students whispering in the back of the room: "Gentlemen, this is the last time I'm going to ask. Please stop talking when other people are talking. It is distracting. I shouldn't have to ask you to do that. You're in college."

4. A few weeks ago, writing a chapter summary on the board. A voice from the front row: "Andrea, I couldn't help but notice that you are left handed. I am lefthanded also, and did you know that lefthanded people die nine years younger, on average, than right handed people?"
"I'm pretty damn close right now," I say, shaking my head. Those who got the joke laugh.

As a college student, I was neither extremely driven or extremely slacking. I was somewhere in between, which would explain the GPA that hovered around 3.0 or slightly above every semester. I never dropped a class, failed a class, or repeated a class-- I stuck out every single one I had, even ones I thought were unimportant or boring. I skipped class a TOTAL of five times in four years of college. When I failed a quiz or a test, I knew it was my fault-- I didn't blame anyone else for my shortcomings.

The only difference between successful students and unsuccessful ones is that the former group has a sense of self-awareness. Because the latter group lacks this basic insight, they suffer academically, socially, and individually. This is why it's BRAND NEW NEWS to lots of my students that they should do things like take notes, keep quiet when others are talking, etc. Lots of them wouldn't remember to put their pants on if they didn't have roommates to remind them it's not favorable to walk around naked in the cold.