Professors have many responsibilities. In addition to reading papers, grading tests and preparing lesson plans, most of us advise undergraduate student course selections, serve on university service committees, oversee extracurricular student projects, travel to academic conferences and submit work to peer-reviewed journals.
In addition, journalism professors have unique duties, duties driven by the nature of our field. Most of us consume large amounts of media in order to inform our academic activities, and many of us publish in popular media when significant events occur or when statements appear that demand a comment for the record.
Such a statement appeared in the form of a column in last Thursday’s Daily Campus. In that article, titled “Use Class Time Wisely,” Ms. Annalise Ghiz took to task professors in general, and myself in particular, for not releasing our classes on time.
I bear Ms. Ghiz no ill will, nor did I find her comments hurtful. I am always pleased to read the words of one of our journalism students in print.
Unfortunately, in her zeal to propose revisions to the university calendar, Ms. Ghiz omitted a critical factor affecting class schedules: student preparation.
The topic of the class in question is technology reporting. In this class, students learn just enough technology theory and sociology to fuel the lively discussions necessary to discuss how technology should be reported on as a defining force in our civilization.
Teaching this class to undergraduate students is not easy. The topic is by definition complex, and the various perspectives we discuss require more consideration than many students seem willing to exert on their own.
As a result, I ask students to prepare for each class session by reading about a dozen pages of text.
We introduce a new subject each class session, and these readings are critical to providing students with enough background information and context to allow them to participate in the class discussions.
I am not declaring that Ms. Ghiz is among the majority of students in the class who have not been adequately preparing for class. However, the fact remains that “reading the assigned material for class” was omitted from Ms. Ghiz’s listing of student responsibilities last Thursday.
That omission accounts for far more of our scheduling woes that any action her professor undertakes. Merely showing up on time does not constitute students “doing their part.”
There is nothing more frustrating to a teacher at any level than that moment when he or she realizes that informed classroom discussion has been reduced to a one-sided lecture due to the lack of preparation of the students.
When students force professors to provide a summary of the assigned readings before addressing the nuances involved, they derail class schedules and compromise course objectives.
Why does my class often go over? We often run out of time reviewing the readings, after which I cram in the base material needed for the exams.
I believe the headline above Ms. Ghiz’s column, “Use Class Time Wisely,” is a valuable message.
Students should come to class versed in course materials and should not be satisfied with the prospect of wasting their valuable tuition dollars having textbooks read aloud.
In contrast to Ms. Ghiz’s specific claims, I have apologized to my class for running over schedule the three times this semester in which I was at fault.
Most of our late releases have not been because her professor did not respect the students’ schedules, but because the majority of the students showed disrespect to their faculty and the spirit of their institution by arriving in class unprepared to participate in the regularly scheduled activities.
No amount of schedule manipulation can resolve this problem.
J. Richard Stevens is an assistant professor of journalism at SMU. He may be contacted at [email protected].
