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My position: The worst thing an educational institution can do is to fill its classrooms with unmotivated students. Teachers who have genuine desire to help such learners face a brick wall when getting such students to work. Let me illustrate: We started second semester lecturers on Monday 28th January, 2019. At 6.45pm on Sunday the 27th, I got a call from the rep. of a class I was scheduled to meet at 7am the following day. She asked me if I would attend the lecture. I told her that I would. On Monday the 28th, I left the lecture room at 9.17am. No one showed up, not even the rep.
I am describing a struggling level 200 class. One of the essay topics for the end-of-semester examination was this: " How is industrial attachment a three-pronged winning medium? They spent six weeks in industry during the long vacation. During the semester, I forwarded a link to an objective paper on industrial attachment to the class. Their scripts indicated to me that they did not read the article.
On the day they wrote the exam., the Head of department met and informed me that a cross-section of the candidates, led by a weepy rep. stormed her office that my questions were difficult. Regarding the question above, they complained that I did not teach them. I explained to the head that they needed to understand the metaphor in order to have been able to answer the question. She agreed. I told her that they were using their porous comprehension skills to make me a bad teacher. I added that I would sue the class for defamation of character. When the rep called me in December, I told her the same thing. The departmental assistant registrar has since been giving me the cold shoulder.
When I narrated the story to the Academic Registrar, he opined that if I had asked them to explain the advantages of industrial attachment, they would have been ok, but since I molded the question a bit, they were thrown off balance. The best comment came from the Dean of the Faculty: "Quality is an issues eh". On Monday, I made sure that the two knew about the absentee class.
In my opinion, there is nothing more pathetic than learners who refuse to learn yet scramble for marks. They were not ashamed of their ignorance; their main concern was failing the paper. I had told them in class that I don't dash marks, so they had to malign me.
Per my tradition, on Monday, I had taken their scripts, because I wanted them to know their performance. Alongside, I would have read the marking scheme to them to enable them to know where they went wrong, so that they could avoid similar mistakes in the future. But they are not interested in feedback.; they just chase marks. Education in this country has been reduced to a mere superficiality, pursuit of certificates, not knowledge. The crazy teacher who attempts to make learners study becomes a pariah.
So tell me, Folks, what motivation do I have to help the class to correct examination mistakes when they don't care? Can I force a horse to drink? My Form 3 history Teacher, Senior Rex, gave us a wise saying every time he came to our class. I remembered this on Monday: "He[she] who knows and knows not that he[she] knows is asleep. Wake him[her]up. He[She] who knows not, and knows not that he[she] knows not, is a fool. Leave him[her] be".
Should I not apply this wise saying?
I am describing a struggling level 200 class. One of the essay topics for the end-of-semester examination was this: " How is industrial attachment a three-pronged winning medium? They spent six weeks in industry during the long vacation. During the semester, I forwarded a link to an objective paper on industrial attachment to the class. Their scripts indicated to me that they did not read the article.
On the day they wrote the exam., the Head of department met and informed me that a cross-section of the candidates, led by a weepy rep. stormed her office that my questions were difficult. Regarding the question above, they complained that I did not teach them. I explained to the head that they needed to understand the metaphor in order to have been able to answer the question. She agreed. I told her that they were using their porous comprehension skills to make me a bad teacher. I added that I would sue the class for defamation of character. When the rep called me in December, I told her the same thing. The departmental assistant registrar has since been giving me the cold shoulder.
When I narrated the story to the Academic Registrar, he opined that if I had asked them to explain the advantages of industrial attachment, they would have been ok, but since I molded the question a bit, they were thrown off balance. The best comment came from the Dean of the Faculty: "Quality is an issues eh". On Monday, I made sure that the two knew about the absentee class.
In my opinion, there is nothing more pathetic than learners who refuse to learn yet scramble for marks. They were not ashamed of their ignorance; their main concern was failing the paper. I had told them in class that I don't dash marks, so they had to malign me.
Per my tradition, on Monday, I had taken their scripts, because I wanted them to know their performance. Alongside, I would have read the marking scheme to them to enable them to know where they went wrong, so that they could avoid similar mistakes in the future. But they are not interested in feedback.; they just chase marks. Education in this country has been reduced to a mere superficiality, pursuit of certificates, not knowledge. The crazy teacher who attempts to make learners study becomes a pariah.
So tell me, Folks, what motivation do I have to help the class to correct examination mistakes when they don't care? Can I force a horse to drink? My Form 3 history Teacher, Senior Rex, gave us a wise saying every time he came to our class. I remembered this on Monday: "He[she] who knows and knows not that he[she] knows is asleep. Wake him[her]up. He[She] who knows not, and knows not that he[she] knows not, is a fool. Leave him[her] be".
Should I not apply this wise saying?
