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SOCGRAD MINI-LECTURES
by
A. Things in General:
1. THE STUDENT is
a real human being in your tutelage...respect her/him.
2. S/he will need positive reinforcement especially when there seems
little grounds for it.
2a. Non-traditional students include those from a working class
background, minority students, single parents, re-entry students or any
student whose parents did not attend college.
There are two things that these students are likely to need that
your typical
student will not:
A. the non-traditional student often has a lower income and little
financial support from her/his parents. S/he may be receiving financial
aid, and may be working part or even full time, possibly at unpredictable
or unusual schedules. S/he may also have children and making child care
arrangements around a school and/or work schedule can be difficult. The
mentor can be helpful by being mindful of the myriad of time constraints
the student is under, being willing to arrange meetings at unusual times,
and understanding when other priorities impinge on the student's work.
B. The non-traditional student may lack of understanding of the bureaucratic procedures of a
university. Having been involved with the system for a long period of time, it may seem
like a waste of time for you to explain to your student simple things like the difference
between a Master's degree and a Ph.D. However, this time will
be well spent. Encourage your student to ask questions about anything they may not
understand. Avoid assumptions about what a student knows and does not know. Go out of your
way to make sure the student knows about school deadlines, funding opportunities,
department or university events, and degree requirements. Most importantly, exercise
patience and make available as much of your valuable time as you can spare to be sure the
student can make the most of her/his unique talents. The reward will be well worth the
effort.
3. S/he will need funds...some will have an easy road, in financial terms...some will take
on Students Loans...some will have TA support and some GRA support...Yet some will need
creative financing solutions...as Mentor, you must help.
4. S/he will need practice in teaching...ask your GTA to select at least two topics upon
which to lecture...and stick around to hear them so you can give fair critique.
5. Be flexible in Degree Plans: If a student wants to take
philosophy; sit in on postmodern lit classes, get background in physiological
psychology or take courses in macro-economics or dance theory...try to fit it in.
6. Be flexible in Research Design. As example, two grad students at U/Colo-Boulder did a
video documentary rather than the standard monograph...and instead of a Defense of Thesis
by a Faculty Committee, they organized a Critique by the Subjects of the Research...in
this case, coal miners.
7. If you mentor a Graduate Research Assistant; set the ground rules early on for
publication; generally whoever has the first draft should be first author...even if it is
your research grant, your research questions, your research design and your career on the
line...being second author to a lot of grad students will, in 20 years time, be a source
of great satisfaction.
B. Things to do as
role model for GTA's:
1. Be prepared; come to class with lectures well in hand.
2. Be creative in teaching aides, in classroom lectures and in evaluation procedures;
there should be a variety of pathways through the learning process since different
students have different interests, different strengths and different career aims.
I use an interactionally rich and informationally diverse Syllabus
called The Great Flying Chaos Learning Circus...takes a lot of work
but the rewards are great and also non-linear.
3. Be fair; you will make mistakes both in the setting of and scoring of objective
exams...check the results before you return papers and correct errors without being asked.
4. Be judicious; sometimes students will have good reason for the bad grade they
get...hear them out and, where sensible, make adjustments...I could give you a hundred
stories in which I made such adjustments but your stories will be different.
5. Be courteous: no matter what the provocation, keep cool. You have more social power
than you might realize...use it with wisdom and compassion.
6. Be ready to beyond the boundaries of student-teacher relationship if the welfare of the
student is in jeopardy. Two stories: one student, an unmarried mother, had a child in
University pre-school.
She was two months behind in fees. When she told me she was about to
drop out, I loaned her $300 to pay the arrears...I didn't feel comfortable about it since
she had promised to pay the money back and I knew that, on student loans, she would have a
hard time. Then too, I didn't want to be banker to my students...so I asked the Chair, a
very wise woman, to treat the 'loan' to her as a gift to the department and to let her
work it off as an unofficial office assistant to the secretary...worked out well.
Another student had not appeared for a mid-term; she
showed up the following Monday with bruises on her face...her boy-friend had beaten
her...the young man had been my student the year prior; I talked to him...she took a
different version of the exam and was not bothered by the young man again. I also advised
her to change the lock on her door...she had given him keys to the apartment...over the
years, there will be such situations arise; think well before you do any such thing...BUT,
in your wisdom,
you might have to do something.
C. Things not to do;
never, never, never!!:
1. Never, never exchange 'easy' grades for student popularity; your responsibility is to
society-at-large...you must help create a knowledge process which is helpful to a good and
decent society.
That sometimes requires what Marcuse called 'necessary repression,'
...who distinguishes it from:
2. 'Surplus repression' ...never, never use your social power as
Professor to force students to defer to you as and only as an 'authority' figure.
Authority of knowledge is acceptable; of position, not.
3. Never, never extort sexual favors from students...that subverts the knowledge process;
the socialization process and the mental health of the person extorted and, if faculty
learn of it, your career and reputation will be destroyed...and rightly so.
It also sets up expectations in other
students...who will know that you are corruptible and corrupting of the knowledge process.
That does not mean that all forms of intimacy are excluded between
someone called a 'teacher' and someone called a 'student.' Many men and women have, in all
good conscience, had intimate relationships with students...but not 'their
students.'...never.
4. It is not a good idea to lend money to students... what I have done in past is to give
a student up to $500, take it as a tax-deductible gift to the Department and set up a work
plan for the student to work it off at whatever rate work-study students are paid...
Dedicated to Maxine Campbell and to some 10,000 others who have shared time
and thought with me.
TR Young, 8085 Essex
Weidman, Mi., 48893
Email: tr@tryoung.com
and
Michael Carley
Senior Research Assistant
Sociometrics Corporation