Student Babysitting
I work in a small college and a lot of my students are adults. They tend to have problems in their daily lives that they present as excuses for missed assignments. How do I convey a sense of care, but also professionalism without babysitting them in their college career?
I've ran into the same problem.
With only a few students, it's noticeable when someone misses, and it seems to be the same student. While I understand that life gets hard sometimes and there are things that come up, I try to remind my students that they are coming to college to help maintain some of those hard parts in life.
Are they struggling with a job? They are attending a career college to better their career options.
Child having problems in school? They need to set a good example for that child as they are also a student.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do and people will always have an excuse. But, I try to hold them accountable. And example of this is late work. My boss has never told me, "Oh, your project that I needed on Monday is a week late? That's OK, I'll just take off 10 percent and use it now."
I care about each of my students and want them to succeed in college and in their career, and they won't get there without a little "tough love."
Hi Lisa,
This is so important because we are preparing our students to enter the workforce with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful. We must hold the students to the standards of the field if we are going to do our job.
Gary
This is a topic that comes up often in my department meetings. One of the major lessons that sticks with me from my time in college was something a professor said to us in class one day: "Everyone's got an excuse, and I don't want to hear it." Every student has something going on, be it working full time or more than one job, dealing with kids, living far from campus with few transportation options, having financial problems, or any number of issues.
If we hold everyone to the same high standard that they will be held to in the workplace, they will quickly realize that we're not going to coddle them, but rather help them become successful in their chosen careers.
Hi Hayley,
Right you are about not babysitting these students. They are adults that have chosen to become college students, paid money to attend and are receiving an education that will lead them to a productive career. The ownership of all that rests with them and they have to accept it. We can support them in their efforts but they must put forth the effort to achieve it for themselves just as you have said.
Gary
It seems that babysitting, or providing too much caretaking, undermines the students' confidence that they have to tools to successfully manage their college careers along with their lives. With reference to the modeling piece, they will not be babysit by most employers. As much as possible the students should feel they are being supported, but certainly not hand-held. Ultimately, you can't fix anything in their lives for them anyway. The responsiblity falls on them to manage their own stress levels and problems.
Hi John,
Good for you. Your efforts will help the younger students to develop some maturity and start to realize that they are in a high stakes situation as they are preparing for a career not just taking another year of high school.
Gary
I teach in a community college, and have a lot of older students, non traditional students, as well as recent high school graduates. The opinion of the "younger" students is that this the the 13th grade. I have a strong sylabus and hold all students accountable for the course requirements.
Hi Brenda,
I like your approach. We instructors are training students to become knowledgeable and skilled in their chosen field. We cannot compromise our educational offering because if we do we have shorted our students. By being supportive and getting them the help they need you are being a role model of how they can help others when they are out in the field.
Gary
I run into this in my classes a lot as well. When I first started out in the classroom I found myself falling into the role of "babysitting". I quickly realized that I really was not helping my students by doing this. I have developed a assignment and test policy that I hold everyone to. I let my students know that I support them and understand their issues but they need to hold themselves to a standard that will promote their professionalism in their chosen field. I also try to find someone on our advising team who may be able to point the student in the right direction to help them to remove or to improve the obstacle they are facing.
Follow your course objectives and add some learning activities to the mix.
Hi Dhimitraq,
Make sure you keep the standards and requirements of the course in place. Let them know that these standards and requirements are based upon the competencies needed in the workplace. This way the students see that what you are asking of them is not your requirements solely but are based upon what they need to be successful in their careers.
You can be supportive of their situations and understanding as you talk with them but let them know they still must do the work and put forth the effort required by the course.
Gary
