We have finally reached the end of the semester, and as you send out your emails ending with "Remember the true reason for the Season!" And "God Bless!", I hope that you realize that many of you have been less than joyful blessings in our lives this semester. Now don't get me wrong, I am not one of those students who demands grades we didn't earn or whines when an assignment is too hard. We came here to be challenged, we came here to learn. However, we did not come here to be disrespected.
What we as students long for you to understand is this; we will respect you as professors but we need you to respect us as students. We are all adults here, it is time we start acting like it. Sure, some people may just be here to have fun or because mommy and daddy are paying for it, and that's fine. Keep in mind though that this does not account for all of us. Some of us work very hard for this. Some of us are paying our own way through college and trying our best to survive this adult world that we got tossed into. We are being faced with potentially life-changing decisions and trying to figure out who we are, all the whiletrying to balance all of the busy work being tossed our way. What we could use right now is not being talked down to, but being shown a little grace.
Don't assume that the reason our assignment didn't live up to your expectations is because we were out with our friends or binging on Netflix. While I will admit that may be the case sometimes, there are so many students on this campus who are struggling with real life stuff that makes it extremely difficult to sit down and write a paper about "what it means to be human" or some other vague topic that we don't really understand. We have loved ones that are dying, relationships that are falling apart, unbearable living situations, financial difficulties, and everything in between. We may be newer to this whole adult thing than you are, dear professor, but that doesn't mean life is any easier for us. If anything, it makes it a little harder because we don't yet have the life experience that you do to draw from when life smacks us in the face yet again.
As we take a break from the craziness of college and prepare for next semester, here is what we would appreciate from those who have been chosen to teach us and guide us during this crazy ride known as college:
- Take us seriously, don't write off our concerns and struggles
- Show us the same respect we show you
- Be humble, we know you aren't perfect and that is okay
- Be gracious, if you are willing to bear with us on our worst days we will do the same for you
- Remember that your class is not our only class and there is life happening outside your classroom
- Be willing to invest in us like you signed up to do when you took this job
- Keep in mind how much your belittling and discouragement can shape our futures, if you don't seem to believe in us then why should we?
Lets all take our time to recover and rest over this holiday break so we can treat each other a little better next time around. The people of this campus are hurting, we could all use a little extra love.
