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Re: Why.. students can't read directions

I think John 's experience is a clue to the problem -- what changed during
the period from, ".... blessed me ....", to ".... they damn me ....."? I
think it's too many students; too few instructors, AND their "quality." Is
this a problem where the institution is considerably more selective?

I HS substitute taught Chem. recently. Two of the classes were large and
required for people going into the health industry and a third very small
class. Their average was B+; the other two, c with correspondingly
different discipline problems. When I complained to the chair, he said there
was nothing I could do, and sotto voce, "Most of them don't belong in those
classes." Do we, as already thread mentioned, pass on and receive students
that should not have been?

bc

Cooper John N wrote:

On Tue, 9 Oct 2001, John Clement wrote:

I wonder if my students are different?

Part of the problem is that we are overloaded by information, and we
tend to skim rather than read every word.
Precisely. I know that I do the same thing. It's a crude attempt to
'save time' .. until I rediscover that it takes more time to unscramble my
false assumptions than to work through things carefully. But I still do
it, thoughtlessly.
To Tina, I'd say they have to discover, you have to show them, that
skip reading doesn't save time in the long run.
But I don't hold out much hope. Fifteen years ago I converted my
course notes to handout form for my classes. Much easier to update and
revise than theretofore. Then my kids blessed me .. it was like having my
'voice' in their ear while they studied; now they damn me .. too many
words, too many syllables.
Learning is hard work, too much for some; there is no royal road to it,
and few shortcuts work.

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* John N. Cooper *
* Chemistry Department *
* Bucknell University *
* Lewisburg PA 17837 *
* http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/jcooper *
* Vox 570 577 3673 Fax 570 577 1739 *
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