There’s a student in my class (I teach mainstream social science) who writes every essay along religious themes. He sees religion as the answer to everything. And he’s not even a moronic bigot. He is by far one of my most creative students and he’s an excellent writer.
He’s does a grand job of appropriating the lecture material and framing it in his own way. He’s also got that awesome mix of confidence and insecurity which I really love in students. He keeps reframing me as an equal (“so how was your week?”). I’m not bothered. I already do treat students as equals. That’s because my bosses treat me as an equal and I love that.
Of course his arguments are clumsy and you see him coming from a mile. I keep trying to tell him that he needs to take just that one bit of distance. I just need one tiny bit of distance, like: “some people think that…” instead of “this is how it is...”. I keep telling him that his contribution is valuable and that he is clever enough to fit this contribution into the mainstream academic discourse. I keep pointing him to sources in which the author’s faith commitment are evident to a discerning eye, but still make it into mainstream journals. I point him towards Zizek and stuff, to give him the tools to make a great contribution.
I look at my students and I see potential. Big fat potential. When they’re good I tell them. And then I tell them again. I’m bossy as hell, I demand extensive reading and five citations per page minimum, but I’ve never read first year essays that were so objectively good. I only teach about one fifth of the year, others get tutored by someone else. But I still don’t have to mark to a curve. If they’re all good then they’re all good. The essays get moderated between all the tutor groups and mine just rock! Fucking hell, these are first year essays? They write better than me the little buggers!
In my department, the longer you've been around, the higher the level you get to teach, so if you’re finishing your PhD, you teach more specialist modules. I always apply to teach first years. I hate teaching later years and discovering students that don’t know the first thing about the academic game and that have lost all their initial confidence. That’s not happening to any of my kids. They’re awesome, awesome, awesome!!!
Of course his arguments are clumsy and you see him coming from a mile. I keep trying to tell him that he needs to take just that one bit of distance. I just need one tiny bit of distance, like: “some people think that…” instead of “this is how it is...”. I keep telling him that his contribution is valuable and that he is clever enough to fit this contribution into the mainstream academic discourse. I keep pointing him to sources in which the author’s faith commitment are evident to a discerning eye, but still make it into mainstream journals. I point him towards Zizek and stuff, to give him the tools to make a great contribution.
I look at my students and I see potential. Big fat potential. When they’re good I tell them. And then I tell them again. I’m bossy as hell, I demand extensive reading and five citations per page minimum, but I’ve never read first year essays that were so objectively good. I only teach about one fifth of the year, others get tutored by someone else. But I still don’t have to mark to a curve. If they’re all good then they’re all good. The essays get moderated between all the tutor groups and mine just rock! Fucking hell, these are first year essays? They write better than me the little buggers!
In my department, the longer you've been around, the higher the level you get to teach, so if you’re finishing your PhD, you teach more specialist modules. I always apply to teach first years. I hate teaching later years and discovering students that don’t know the first thing about the academic game and that have lost all their initial confidence. That’s not happening to any of my kids. They’re awesome, awesome, awesome!!!
Pity that in the grand scheme of things, I'm only reinforcing kids who are already privileged. Anyway, if they've really enjoyed what they did at uni they tend not to become accountants or big five consultants. I'd love to try my skill with students from more difficult backgrounds. And in a way, it's pretty good that I got to learn how to teach in such an easy environment. The kids here are a dream to work with. It reminds me of a friend who was training to be a catholic priest. The first year they sent him to a wonderful, nurturing parish. Then the next year they sent him to a dreadful one in a really dangerous part of Milan. He says he picked more knowledge and understanding from seeing the contrast and from trying to help his second parish than from all his formal schooling. And he loved the second parish so bad he didn't know what hit him.)
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