Not What I Meant at All

Thanks to my participation in a program designed to help students transfer faster, I have to attend a monthly meeting with other faculty in the program, people from the math department and counselers and other English teachers and (this time around) a sociology professor. We share how the students, who are rigorously tracked for their performance, are doing, particuarly those who are doing well and those who might be in danger of failing. You learn a great deal about what's going on in your students' lives, and it does give you a better context for understanding why sometimes they are having difficulty in your class. It usually turns out that they're having difficulties in all of their classes.

On Thursday, when it was my turn to share, I talked about only three students who are having difficulty. One is passing but barely, mostly because she can't shut up talking long enough to pay attention. Another is earning a low "D" right now, and I think it's because of her limited proficiency in the English language. The third student has had one problem after another this semester, causing her to miss 11 class sessions. We've met 22 times as a class so far, so you can do the math yourself to figure out why she's not doing well.

When I shared this with the group, several people jumped in to tell me that I should drop this student from the class. (They're usually very good about telling you how you should run your classes, by the way.) In theory, I understand and even accept their rationale for doing so. However, this student keeps e-mailing me to tell me what's been happening--the latest is the death of her grandmother--and asking me not to drop her from the class. I've told her how she's doing in the class. I've explained to her what she's missed so far and how much work it will take for her to make all of that up in the very few weeks we have remaining. I have, in other words, kept in contact with her and not dropped her. I shared with the group that I think the student, as an adult, has to make the decision, not me. She still thinks she can come back to the class and be successful after everything that's happened. I know that the odds are against her, but if she wants to try, that's her call to make. And I said something to the effect that a student who knows that she/he is going to fail has as much right to stay in a class as one who knows that she/he is going to succeed.

When the next teacher started to give his report, he commented on who was doing well and who wasn't, and he said that he was going to drop a student who had missed fewer classes than my student had because, as he put it, "I don't want my students to fail." Naturally, he glanced quickly in my direction, accusing me nonverbally of wanting mine to do that very thing. Now, I ask you, is that what I said?

Am I wrong for letting a student make up her own mind about her classes? It's not as if she doesn't know how much difficulty she's going to face because I have told her. I've even given her a printed grade report that shows her the grade she's currently earning. So why should I tell her that her grandmother's death and the other problems she's faced make her ineligible to stay in my class now? I don't want her to fail, but I also don't want to treat her like she's a child with no ability to make a choice on her own.

This is my last semester working in this program. I've been involved in it, off and on, for about eight of the fifteen years I've been at my college. I've enjoyed it, for the most part, and I know that it's a very successful program for the students who participate in it. But I'm feeling very burned out by it. I just want to teach "regular" classes for a while, classes where I don't have to act like some sort of substitute parent for a student who's a grown-up. I'm weary of being asked to do what I think amounts to coddling students a bit too much, maybe I'm not that good of a fit for it any longer. Apparently, some of my colleagues would agree.