I am a very self-conscious teacher. I strive to do my job well and to connect with students. I want them to like the classes I teach and learn something about history in the process. I do care what they think of me, whether or not they respect me as a professional. I am not my students' friend, buddy, or pal. I am not their girlfriend in which they can confide their deepest personal problems. That being said, I am sympathetic to my students' needs outside of the classroom that may affect their school work. I do my best to help my students and because I only teach one class, I have more mental energy to devote to them. I treat my students with respect and try to foster their confidence in their abilities. Half the battle seems to be to convince students they are smart enough to do the work, as long as they actually do the work.
Somewhere in there, I am not getting the respect I believe I deserve. In the past, I have had students who are openly disrespectful because I was young and a woman. They pushed to see how far they could go. At the time, I felt they were the ones throwing away their very expensive education. I was not going to treat them like children, even if they behaved that way. As I became more experienced and more confident, this type of behavior waned. Recently, my most consistent concern with this issue is how students address me. I have students call me by my first name, even when I tell them how to address me. Then we come to Mrs. Rosebud. It took a long time and a lot of work to earn my PhD. When I tell my students to call me Dr. Rosebud, I expect them to do so. Male professors both adjunct and full-time do not have the same problem. Why do students persist in calling me by my married title?
Sure, possibly the informality has to do with this inane idea that has emerged since the Sixties that students are equals to their professors. (I heartily blame the hippies for this one. There is nothing wrong with recognizing that teachers know more than students.) I teach students who are close to my age or older and may see themselves as my contemporary. But what accounts for the younger students, some of whom are male, who do this? I do not think students understand the distinction between adjunct and full-time faculty. They only see me as their professor. So, that cannot it be it. In good guilt-ridden fashion, am I to blame? In an effort to bring my subject (women's history) to my students, do I give off a less than serious posture?
Mostly I conclude that it has everything to do with my gender. If I were a man, I would command more authority. If I am tougher in class, less humorous, or easy-going, will my students perceive me as that feminist so-and-so? (Sorry, just cannot swear on the blog, but you get my meaning, right?) Dangerous territory, for sure. I need to keep students in my class and continue to draw them to it in the future to continue my employment. (Part-timers go semester to semester.) Students talk and they do not take classes from professors described negatively as either too harsh or too much work. For my corner of the world, feminism is still a bad word and I must tread lightly.
Somewhere in there, I am not getting the respect I believe I deserve. In the past, I have had students who are openly disrespectful because I was young and a woman. They pushed to see how far they could go. At the time, I felt they were the ones throwing away their very expensive education. I was not going to treat them like children, even if they behaved that way. As I became more experienced and more confident, this type of behavior waned. Recently, my most consistent concern with this issue is how students address me. I have students call me by my first name, even when I tell them how to address me. Then we come to Mrs. Rosebud. It took a long time and a lot of work to earn my PhD. When I tell my students to call me Dr. Rosebud, I expect them to do so. Male professors both adjunct and full-time do not have the same problem. Why do students persist in calling me by my married title?
Sure, possibly the informality has to do with this inane idea that has emerged since the Sixties that students are equals to their professors. (I heartily blame the hippies for this one. There is nothing wrong with recognizing that teachers know more than students.) I teach students who are close to my age or older and may see themselves as my contemporary. But what accounts for the younger students, some of whom are male, who do this? I do not think students understand the distinction between adjunct and full-time faculty. They only see me as their professor. So, that cannot it be it. In good guilt-ridden fashion, am I to blame? In an effort to bring my subject (women's history) to my students, do I give off a less than serious posture?
Mostly I conclude that it has everything to do with my gender. If I were a man, I would command more authority. If I am tougher in class, less humorous, or easy-going, will my students perceive me as that feminist so-and-so? (Sorry, just cannot swear on the blog, but you get my meaning, right?) Dangerous territory, for sure. I need to keep students in my class and continue to draw them to it in the future to continue my employment. (Part-timers go semester to semester.) Students talk and they do not take classes from professors described negatively as either too harsh or too much work. For my corner of the world, feminism is still a bad word and I must tread lightly.
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