Why Students Are Failing Higher Education

Admittedly, it's a face only a mother could love, but it does actually care for the students.

I feel badly because of a bit of hate mail I received from one of my recent - now former - students. I received the following in my school email as a reaction to one of my online classes that began just this week:

Hello,
This email will serve as notice that I have dropped your class. I am appalled at the way you conduct yourself. You obviously no longer enjoy teaching as evident [sic] by your introductory letter, syllabus, and assignment 1 questionnaire. A true Instructor [sic] should not begin each class with preconceived notions that everyone is juvenile. Nor should you attempt to satisfy your superiority complex by forcing your opinion on your students. Case in point, "I prefer a classroom and structured learning. Should I take this class?" Obviously the answer you wanted was a regurgitation of your opinion. There are a myriad of reasons why one takes an online class, one of which is the convenience. In my case, convenience does not override academic respect. I will take my hard-earned money and spend it on a class taught by an Instructor [sic] who actually treats a student as an equal and not an insubordinate [sic].

My initial reaction to this email would be to respond with some kind of pointed attack against the student, or at least to defend myself and the class. For example, I've written the syllabus questionnaire after having countless students try to weasel their way out of doing work because they "hadn't been informed" of class policy. Point in fact, too many students act like juveniles and make things more difficult for future students. (As a side note, I'll probably go ahead and make changes to the questionnaire and syllabus again, just because of this student.)

I didn't give in to the temptation, by the way, to send back some snide remarks. I sent off a short note wishing the student luck in future studies. (I didn't even say: "You'll certainly need it." Thought it. Didn't say it.)

However, this email illustrates a brilliant example of why students fail in higher education, as well as failing at life in general. It shows not only a lack of civility and manners, but a strong lack of judgment, which, unfortunately, occurs in more and more students. Here are some particulars:

1) The student deliberately uses inflammatory words such as "appalled," "true Instructor," and "superiority complex." The tone is inappropriate and an ad hominem attack, rather than a statement of dissatisfaction and desire. This points to an inability to argue a case on any rational level, resorting to distorted and overblown arguments based on feelings.

We can perhaps blame some of this on the relative anonymity of the internet and the wonderful and wacky world of texting. We can also note that more students do not grow up with any kind of respect for teachers. This is the mentality of the "me" generation.

2) The student demonstrates a lack of reality with regard to how the world operates. A person who expects respect without earning it only demonstrates an entitlement mentality, expecting the world will revolve around him or her instead of finding a place within it.

As public schools now stand, a student can get through the system having learned nothing more than how to take a standardized test, with no understanding of competition or true achievement. This is the fault of years of failed "feel good" teaching which can only produce students who have no experience with trial and error, or with failure.

3) The student has some presumptions about what is and isn't a teacher, the most problematic being an unfounded expectation of equality. Students, by definition, don't enjoy equality with the teacher. The teacher has some experience, some information, some way of thinking, and some perspectives on life for which the student spends time, money, and energy to acquire. This is not to say that the teacher can treat students badly (as I suppose this student felt) but the conclusion of equality fails in the definition of the word student.

Is this a superiority complex? The student mistakes ability, years of hard work, countless hours of reading, and real experience in the classroom for a psychological problem. Perhaps the student is correct in this. Maybe all of those things over time creates a superiority complex. (Or maybe the student is the one the with superiority complex, mistaking hurt feelings as better than or equal to years of experience.)

4) The student's preconceived notions of what is and isn't a teacher prevented the student from understanding the intent of the questionnaire. The student's sample question baldly misinterprets the intent, imagining some slight when all I was after was the student's recognition that online classes are different from the in-class experience.

By the way, the question in question obviously worked just fine and weeded out a student who would obviously not be comfortable in my class.

What bothers me the most about this student isn't the rude behavior or the poor argument. What bothers me is that this student demonstrates a lack of understanding of what constitutes a student. Such an attitude simply does not allow learning to occur. The student is so preoccupied with preconceived notions of life that no teaching, no arguments, and no persuasion can possibly break through.

Such students as this don't want to be taught new ideas but affirmed in their own beliefs. Such students as this don't want equality for themselves but superiority over others. Such students as this don't want to learn but only to feel good about themselves with no effort on their part.

I wish this student well in future studies. I really do. Maybe, someday, this student will learn something useful.

But I doubt it.