I recently did a reading efficiency workshop for my school and I've been carrying the frustration with me from that day. Not many things went right. I was frustrated with my lack of preparation and with the students' lack of attention. They were excessively talkative. I didn't expect that much talking. It was like these students had not left high school yet. But these are exactly the kind of students I'll be teaching very very soon. Not very encouraging.
What made this frustration worse was when I talked to my roommate (a couple days after my workshop mishap) about her memories of college classes. One of the last things she said was that she would drop a class after the first day if she thought the teacher was too boring. And I thought, "That's a hell of a "reason" to drop a class. We usually drop classes in the very beginning if we registered for the wrong class or if there's too much work. But dropping because the teacher is more interested in the things s/he says rather than how they are said might be the silliest reasons to drop. I told my roommate that school was for education not entertainment. She replied, "Well, I want the best of both worlds." She has a good point here. I've always advocated making education fun and entertaining. But I took great offense to it because it was her defense for dropping a class.
She was not looking at what else the professor could offer besides a non-boring delivery; she was not appreciating the education and knowledge professors hold and wish to endow their students with. No, she solely measures value in a classroom by how entertaining it is. And I can't help but think that this is how half, if not most students think. That bothers the hell out of me.
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