I think John Clement's description of "lazy" is correct. If start there and keep going, what is the implication? Let me describe
what I mean,
I have made an assignment. I have done so because I believe it is a worthwhile learning experience. Some (most?) students have
chosen not to do the assignment because (choose some combination) (1) they were lazy, (2) it exceeded their comfort zone, (3) they
were too busy with other things, (4) similar excuses.
Isn't the bottom line that they didn't feel the assignment was important enough? Something else was more important, be it their
comfort, another activity, etc. How do we respond to this? Truth is, I can't say any assignment I make is so important that
students have to do it? Therefore, why should students complete any of my assignments?
One reason is because I hold a grade over their heads. But many rationalize the percentage of the grade assigned to a particular
assignment makes the assignment not worth the bother. As adults beyond school we still make those same judgments. I want an egg
for breakfast; it's 10:45 pm and I notice we are out of eggs, and the closest grocery store closes at 11:00. Do I hop in the car
and get eggs? Maybe; but I do have milk and I do have cereal so maybe I'm too lazy to go out tonight. I'll just have Cheerios for
breakfast and maybe my wife will go to the store tomorrow and get some eggs, and I won't have to go at all.
Isn't this the everyday plight of the teacher? None of our assignments are life/death assignments. How do we get students to do
them? If I think there is a valuable lesson in having the students go to the library and find/read the hard copy of something, it
doesn't matter whether this physics list agrees or the students agree. We could never come up with a list of activities that we as
professors and they as students would agree is the "absolutely required list of activities" for the subject at hand. Each teacher
has the freedom to come up with her own list. After having done that, and finding students don't like it, must we discard the
assignments that yield the lowest compliance? If so, don't we eventually discard all assignments?
PS: My dean, who is not mathematically inclined, has actually said we should work toward eliminating all faculty who receive
below-average student evaluations. I pointed out that we would eventually end up with just one faculty member. He didn't
understand. Assignments might even be worse than this. There are popular professors that students like, but students are not
inclined to like any assignments.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Chair of Sciences
Bluffton College
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.