Common Sense
The two statements made here about some students coming in with a sense of entitlement and the one about using common sense really struck a nerve with me. I teach at a for-profit technical education school located in a city with a high population of lower-income students, many of whom see this as a way up out of poverty. I'm glad they're trying to improve their lives and make a better living for themselves and their children, but so many of our students come to us expecting our education philosophy to be the same as in the large public city high schools from which they graduated. As the author said, they feel they should pass all classes because they are paying a tuition for them, so students listen to music or check their Facebook pages, and get mad at me when I expect them to answer a question based on the material they ignored.
With the introduction of state-wide standardized testing, teachers concentrate on teaching to pass a test, and students not only don't KNOW how to think, they don't see a reason for it.
One of my favorite mantras in class is that students, when they get to their jobs, will have to make decisions that will affect their patients. They will have to decide if the number answer they see on the calculator is a sensible thing to say, such as "He needs to buy two and a half bottles of bleach." I'll always add a note questioning this, asking the student if a person CAN buy half a bottle of a product, and some of our liveliest discussions in class address this type of reasoning. Of course, those students who didn't bother participating and instead listened to music or checked their online status missed out on the whole point of the discussion, and so they don't understand why I didn't give them full credit when the calculator clearly gave the correct answer.
And then they tell me "You're not helping me. You gave me a bad grade."
Sigh
Cheryl,
Thank you for these targeted comments. This is a very common situation for many of us in today's adult education community. We are trying to overcome our students' secondary experiences and lack of academic preparation is a short span of time while teaching them career skills. This is a tough challenge because of student attitudes and lack of self discipline. I do know I am still going to maintain the standards of the field and try to move my students toward those standards because to do any less is to be unfair to my field and the preparation my students are receiving. I know we are going to lose students but this is after all post secondary education where students have chosen to enroll and they need to learn how to meet the standards that are set for them in a professional and adult manner.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I also agree that common sense is a thing of the past. People, not just students, are so used to having the world at their finger tips with todays technology that it has really effected their ability to think and to process.
Critical thinking and common sense go hand in hand. Without them the future is quite scary.
I teach SPFX Makeup at a school in Los Angeles, Ca. We gear our students toward a career in Film/ Television/ Print/ Commercial etc. Our school is a specialized art school and it doesn't come cheap. A lot of the students we see here are very priveledged. They come to school with the impression that since they have paid they can do and act as they please. There is a sense of entitlement and an attitude that comes with it.
It doesn't seem to matter how explicit we are with our instructional methods or with our delivery of information, they would rather play around and not pay attention. When there grades are returned or a critique is given based on there performance in class, they are often upset or very defensive because they are coming face to face with the fact that they aren't taking class or the career they chose seriously. Somehow this becomes the instructors fault.
Common sense tells us that if you pay attention and put in the effort you will become successful.
I am an avid note giver. A lot of what we do here requires many steps to reach the final outsome so I feel that it is important to give very explicit step by step instructions on how to achieve each task. My most frequent comment is this " I wasn't sure what to do next", my response is where are your notes and have you read the board today? Not only do we discuss the notes together as I write them but I do a review at the beginning and end of each day.
Common sense would indicate that if I wrote the notes, studied the notes, or at least refered to the board, I would know what to do next.
VERY VERY Frustrating indeed.
Please Advise
KarrieAnn,
Wish I had some great advice to offer you concerning student attitudes and the entitlement culture in which we are working as educators. I face this same challenge almost everyday. I remind my students just as you are that the knowledge and skills I am teaching them are acquired and it doesn't matter how much they paid for tuition they have to work to gain the needed skill sets. Sometimes it works and sometimes they just pout. I do bring in a number of successful graduates throughout the course and have them tell the students about the value of the content and the pay off of hard work. Since these graduates are seen as peers the students really listen to them and most of them "get it". There are still some that having always been handed anything they want do not want to invest in themselves or their future. These I continue to work with but I know they are not going to make it in the highly competitive field they are desiring to enter because they don't have the skills.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This leads me to wonder if a short explanation to the students at the beginning of class of their behavior and attitudes would not reach some of those unreachables? I think I am going to give this a try.
Allen,
I think this is a good idea and that you will be able to get these challenging students on board, or at least some of them. Give it a try and see what happens.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Grades get in the way of learning, I believe. Effective goal setting keeps the overall objective as the "umbrella" (outcome goal), while smaller step goals are those leading to that overall objective (process and performance). Having said this, I have my students take new content and immediately connect it to their own lives - "what's in it for me?", then connect it to their future career "what WILL be in it for me?" Back to the "nuts and bolts" of classroom procedure, one strategy that might be beneficial is to have each student write down 3 things they do not like about a class (first day/night of course), then you write down the 3 things you do not like (i.e., cell phones, lack of engagement, etc.). This allows students to begin taking ownership through having a voice. I also write down the words, INTENTIONAL ENGAGEMENT on the dry erase board and ask each what this means to them. I then treat the class as a "workshop" with learning as the focus. This has helped set the stage in my classes and has worked quite well as it takes the focus off of "behaviors" and draws it to "learning". Good luck!
Ellie,
Great advice for instructors to remember because engagement is what brings the results that students are seeking. They need to see both application and value to what is being taught and how it is relevant to their career goals.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I tend to agree with your statement about common sense, my mantra: "common sense isn't common".
I am begining to understand why; this generation of students haven't been taught the skills. I am glad for the opportunity to work on training myself as an educator to encourage critical thinking in my students. So often students will ask for the answer to questions they could figure out, as it's the easy way out. I have to stop and decide if it is a reasonable question, or if they are engaging my brain before their own.
Although the public education system hasn't set our students up for success in this area, we just have to do the best we can and cultivate this skill. Forums like this help make our job easier!
Kimberly,
Like your saying because it is so true. We say "use your comment sense" but this is tough if you don't have any or have not learned how to develop it. Practical approaches to problem solving will go a long way in helping students to see how common sense can be used to reach solutions to problems.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have done this many times and find that it is quite effective and sets the tone for the expectations right from the start.
Good luck!
It is nice to know that others have the same mantra as myself..."Common sense is not so common!" Struggling with students who have a sense of "entitlement," is a common thread to discussions and concerns in the classroom. I teach at a for-profit vocational school and we recently had a guest speaker who spoke about the Pacific Institute's Thought Patterns for a Successful Career. He spoke at length about HABE (habits, attitudes, beliefs and expectations) and how the instructor's HABE will of course be different than the students' HABE due to education, socioeconomic status and age. He reminded us that not only do we need to teach the skill set for the student to obtain a job/career - but being successful at this requires our ability to understand the students' HABE and gently moving their HABE toward defining a goal. It was an academic training well worth attending and reminding myself of constantly.
Dianne,
Powerful content in the HABE model. Having this understanding can give you insight into how to approach and work with your students to try and help them develop some "common sense" as well as reflective thinking skills.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I know where you asre coming from , I am in the same boat , students these days have the attitudes that the world oes them and since they are paying for something it should be automatic that they earned it and pass it , common sense comes hard to alot of them and its something that noone can teach .
Antonio,
Sad we are faced with these challenges in terms of student attitudes. Makes our job tough when we ask our students to do in-depth analysis and careful research to come up with possible solutions. This is where common sense would be so valuable to the thinking effort for our students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Well said, well said. I tell my students on the first day of class that this is a career choice. I am here to train you and make you employable. I feel common sense in not very common.
Melissa,
Well said yourself. I find the same thing with my students. Common sense is not common and in many cases not even understood in terms of how valuable it is in problem solving. So we have to go back to ground zero and try to help students develop some approaches to using common sense in their reflective thinking.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
The students pay a large sum of money for the program I teach. There is a sense of entitlement shown by the students referring to the amount they pay to be in the program. I remind them, they will not be successful in the field, if I just hand them a degree with out skills and knowledge.
Angela,
This attitude is becoming more common all the time. They need to understand paying tuition is not buying a grade. They must earn that grade and in earning the grade they will acquire the knowledge and skills required for success in the field.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I also struggle to get students to use common sense. I am constantly bringing up scenarios for practical application of theories and techniques. It usually instigates more questions and a lively discussion which I think increases learning. But I do agree that students these days are not used to thinking for themselves. They want their teachers to do it for them. I often answer a question with, "Well, you tell ME what the answer is."
