Shell bash

At a training seminar in the early 1990s, an instructor told us he was not motivated to stand up in front of the crowd because of most of us. Instead, he imagined one or maybe two people in the audience who would benefit from what he had to say. He was never sure which person(s) needed to hear his message so he addressed the crowd as individuals, making sure he made eye contact with every person at least once. Otherwise, he would have quit a long time ago because he knew the majority of people he faced were disinterested in him and/or his lecture subject, aware that the company he worked for recruited corporations to sign up for package deals that included one lecture per quarter for their employees.

I know how he feels. As an instructor, I have seen the students who have no interest in either me or the subject I'm presenting to them. I'm okay with that. However, I don't like seeing students whose only interest lies in gaming the system or psyching the teacher into giving students a free ride. I didn't like it as a student and don't like it as an instructor. Of course, what I like or dislike is not going to change human nature.

So I'm stuck here with you, the reader (including myself), wondering what to do. Do I ignore the game players by ensuring I lay out an instruction system that allows students to get good grades with minimal effort while at the same time challenging the students who desire to learn and master the subject I teach/coach/lead?

Some instructors/professors I had as a student told the class they were forced to teach undergraduate courses so they were going to make the class as hard as possible, resulting in an average class grade that would "prove" they were better researchers than lecturers. For the rest of the course, the professors showed off their extensive knowledge by discussing concepts not covered in the book and methods that only a few students could comprehend. The two classes I remember most are differential equations and advanced computer algorithms. Admittedly, I barely passed both classes (C or C+, I believe) while many students failed. Just as predicted, the advanced computer algorithm professor returned to research and didn't lecture again since many of us complained to the department head about the professor's attitude.

The student is both the customer and product of the lecture/lab classroom factory system. Most universities and colleges have many customers and products not directly tied to a student, providing important connections to and between corporate and government businesses to fund their bureaucracies and benefit society. My observations of the for-profit education business has shown me the student is the main focus for income sources.

I face a dilemma. The technical institute must meet regulatory requirements in regards to expectations of standardized student output. Yet, my customer is the student. I live to meet the expectations of my "customers," the people with whom I interact daily (part of my base personality traits - in this case, the desire to please everyone). If my customers demand that I increase the ease with which one can get an A or B in class, should I meet their demands or tell them, "Sorry, but there's nothing I can do - government regulations tie my hands"?

These are age-old, ubiquitous concerns. I share them with almost every instructor/professor I've met. Do you teach to the test or do you coach students to perform at their peak and then lead them to in-depth understanding of the topic which includes the upcoming test questions? The best teachers can do both without blinking an eye.

I don't claim to be a great teacher, having backed happenchance into a teaching job. In fact, I don't teach. I evaluate my position and determine what maximizes my customers' value for their investment, their ROI, if you will. Granted, some students just want the diploma and don't care a whole lot about the material while others take classes to better understand the material and improve their skills. One product with many customer expectations - nothing new there!

At the end of this blog entry, I ask myself, am I focused on the majority of students in my class or the one or two who are there because we can learn from each other and make our lives better together? Today, I don't have an answer. Meanwhile, I scour the lecture material to see how I can better hone my coaching skills, hoping there are one or two (maybe even three or four!) students to whom I matter as an instructor. Otherwise, someone else could stand up there and dance around for pocket change.