Re: Problem Student?

[bobbie silk <bsilk@keller.clarke.edu>]

I would like to add just a bit to what Debby said on her question about
problems being cultural, personal, or whatever.  Department administrators
once assigned a group of "Russian" students to my fyc specifically so that
I could work with their advisor and coordinate assistance through the
writing center.  Three stand out in my mind.  One was a brilliant young
woman (a Ukranian) with excellent language skills.  Another was a young
man (from Uzbeckistan, I think) whose only ambition was to hang out at the
mall and smoke (a habit he apparently supported by relieving the campus
vending machines of change).  The third student (Russian) lacked language
skills but desperately wanted to stay in the United States. 

>From the first and the last of the three students I learned that, once a
student was identified as "superior" in the old Soviet system (still
basically intact at that time, although the breakup had occured), he or
she rarely had to do any sigificant schoolwork.  Furthermore, the grades
they received in U.S. schools would not follow them back to their home
countries.  I was never sure if what the tutors and I perceived as
arrogance and intolerance was a cultural personality trait or a result of
having been treated as privileged beings throughout their schooling.  I do
think that some of their attitude toward us was a result of Cold War
polemics and prejudice still echoing in their school/social system (maybe
*both* our systems). 

Dealing with these students was frustrating and sometimes exhausting, but
I've had similar trying experiences with students whom I couldn't excuse
for cultural reasons.  All I can see to do under these circumstances is
cope and try to stick to pedagogical principles.  In the long run, I
believe capitulation is more damaging than daily frustration. 

  --Bobbie