Joel and Rick have answered my message the way I answer it myself.
(1) It is a student's responsibility to do assignments whether she thinks the assignment is worthwhile or not. If the student does
not do the assignment, he faces the consequences, and we teachers need to make sure the consequences are severe enough to yield a
high level of compliance.
(2) We need the support of our department chair, dean, principal, school board etc. Students should not gain a sympathetic ear with
administrators as long as teachers are working within reasonable bounds.
I will add another...
(3) We need the support of other teachers at our institution. This means they also are demanding a reasonable level of work as
opposed to trying to win a popularity contest.
I'll speak more of (2) and (3).
(2+) I have been department chair for a while (but won't be much longer). I've had lots of students complain to me about both my
assignments and also assignments of other professors in the department. The usual claim is, "He is requiring so much work we can't
get everything done. He needs to realize his course is not the only course we are taking."
At this point I quiz the student about how many hours a week they think the average student is spending on the course. If it is a 4
hour course and they are spending less than 12 hours per week, then I point out that the professor could be working them harder and
I would not find fault with it. If they claim they are spending more than 12 hours per week, then I ask them to substantiate it. I
offer to help them with this. I offer to poll some of the students in the class and have them begin keeping track of the time they
are spending. If the average student has to spend more than 3 hours per credit hour to get an average grade, then I will discuss
the issue with the professor. Very seldom have I needed to do this because the students freely admit they are not spending that
much time on the class. They then include me as just as bad as the "too demanding" professor because we both are being
unreasonable. But I tell them they will not gain any sympathy from me or the dean or the president (I hope) if they are spending
less than 3 hours per credit hour, because that is the standard.
Sometimes I find students are "spending" more than 3 hours per credit hour. But... they are spending those hours at the coffee
shop, or in front of the TV, or in a study group that is doing more talking about non-course material than course material. I tell
them I won't count any hours as "on-task" hours if the TV is on, or they are at the coffee shop with a boyfriend/girlfriend, or in a
study group that wanders off-task most of the time.
(3+) Unfortunately not all faculty colleagues (especially outside of science) support this idea. They claim students have jobs,
athletics, music practice, clubs, and all these things are an important part of a college education. If students have to spend 45
hours per week with their 15-credit load, then they can't get the full benefit of college. I wonder if they will get the full
benefit of life once they start a 40-hour job (or more likely, with a college education, a salaried job that requires more than 40
hours per week).
I am aware of professors who (a) start class late and end early, giving the students 30 minutes instead of 50, (b) make no
assignments, (c) go over the actual exam the day before the exam. These professors should be the ones under scrutiny, but they are
the popular ones and they sure make it rough on those of us trying to maintain standards.
I urge us to collectively stand our ground on assignments. But each of us has to deal with administration, other faculty, sometimes
parents. Some of us can find it very difficult to maintain standards.
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.