TEACHSOC: Karen and 8:00 Classes

[Marty Schwartz]

--Karen S. Boyd wrote:

> In most universities and colleges students are not compelled to enroll or register in particular classes.  If they choose (as adults) to enroll and pay, I feel that they are adults and can decide whether or not they want to attend.

Omigod, are there still public universities where students have a choice?  At my school you grab what you can, not unlike starving people in a disaster zone fighting over what supplies aid workers can drop from helicopters.  I am teaching a sophomore course that is not required but counts in several places for requirements (Sociology of Deviant Behavior).  We raised the seats from 35 to 75 and then 90, and finally I took in 100 (I stopped at the total number of seats in the room).  I still turned away about 50 students, and ended up with 49 seniors (mostly majors), about 40 juniors, with the rest being sophomores who are in some situation where they can jump queues (e.g., athletes).  They mostly have a choice between taking me this term or going to summer school.  I take attendance, but I only use it as a tie-breaker.  If I can't decide whether to give someone with a 78 a B-, a good attendance record counts as extra credit.  It is also useful to me when people come in with excuses -- the class is too big to really know much about who is trying.  Obviously the people who turn up and sit in front have much more of my attention when one of their required papers is late.  
        Speaking of which, I wonder if others can educate me about the atmosphere elsewhere: I have taught for 30 years and have always tried to be as fair as possible.  I have never had any point system, docked someone .33 of a point for being 15 minutes late, or anything, but obviously from the above the better you are as a student the more amenable I am to listen to your problems.  I have not had a single complaint in 30 years.  Do other people get complaints from students who hand in their work on time if the prof gives someone else an extra two days because they are having trouble concentrating after last term's sexual assault, or because their best friend is in a coma after a motorcycle accident (two of my real ones)?

Marty

Martin D. Schwartz
Professor of Sociology
Ohio University

119 Bentley Annex
740.593.1366 (voice)
740.593.1365 (fax)