Re: new thread: fear of students

[becky.rickly@umich.edu (Becky Rickly)]

I dunno, James....like Kathleen, I'm usually scared more along the lines of
not communicating what I want clearly enough, or not reading the response
correctly so that both parties learn to communicate and trust with both
students/horses.  I'm not sure there's a level of individual "fear,"
though, at least w/ college students.

Now when I used to teach junior high, that was a *different* story....In my
first non-college teaching job, I had two students (both male) who had
flunked the "alotted" two years and were to be passed no matter what they
did the year I had them; the principal told me to "just ignore" them and to
concentrate on the other students.  Well, being the cock-eyed optimist I
was, I was bound that *I* was going to make a difference in their
lives...but I have to admit, I was scared stiff a few times that there
would be physical violence in the classroom.  Yikes!  Good, dedicated
junior high/HS teachers are worth their weight in GOLD.

It's also different with different horses....I had a two year old stud colt
(that I later gelded) who was a wonderful "pet"--almost a puppy dog--until
he got around a mare in heat.  Then he was completely uncontrollable.  I
can tell you that after being dragged around a pasture/barn, I learned a
healthy fear of him.  Heh, perhaps HE was akin to a junior high male, too?
:-)

--Becky

At 3:09 PM 3/13/98, KATHLEEN WELSCH wrote:

>James--
>
>Being an equestrian and a composition teacher, I often think of the
>connections between my horse and my students, and riding and writing. I
>admit, though, that your equine connection to raise thoughts on what fears
>we have of our students is a new one for me. I tend to think more in terms
>of the fears my horse carries and how I need to work through those with him
>if we are to progress in our partnership to newer and more advanced levels
>of ability and trust.
>
>But your question about OUR fears rings true to me on a gut level, and I
>need to think about that. At the moment what immediately comes to mind
>(based on situations current in my dept.) is the fear of students as
>*paying consumer* capable of undercutting academic standards, dept.
>policies, and course expectations by making their dissatisfaction known to
>the dean and other significant administrators who--for fear of losing a
>customer or creating *bad* press and losing future customers--don't support
>faculty and reasonable standards. After all, we must make the *customer*
>happy, don't we? And if s/he is expecting that s/he is paying good money
>for a particular grade or treatment in class, then--by golly--give her what
>she's paid for. Now THAT's what scares me.
>
>Sincerely,
>Kathleen Welsch
>
>Clarion Univ. of PA
>KWELSCH@MAIL.CLARION.EDU
>
>
>
>
>At 01:26 PM 3/13/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>hi folks,
>>
>>I've been email-corresponding with a horse-raising/training friend who used
>>to teach our stuff.  He made an observation that struck me over the head.
>>
>>He'd recently been involved with the logistics of making/letting horse
>>breeding happen, and noted how the farm owner often thought such
>>consummation needed control, restraints, and whips (sounds kinda .....
>>no?) and tended therefore to make the animals really crazy and dangerous,
>>while my friend respected the beasts and "listened" to their gestural
>>language, and therefore felt safer being the attending facilitator.  When
>>the stud suddenly made a snorting sound, the owner jumped out of her skin in
>>fright, despite being behind a steel gate.
>>
>>>"this is a stud who will stop dead in the middle of a breeding
>>>charge if you wave a finger in his face. It leads me to wonder how
>>>much teaching methodology is bred of fear of the student(s).  maybe
>>>that's why high school teachers are so fascinated with _lord of the
>>>flies_.
>>
>>This is so complex a question, I'm stymied on how to approach it.  My guess
>>is the fears might grow out of a myriad of double-binds about
>>institutional/cultural expectations of literacy, but also double-binds about
>>our profession.   Most likely, our worst fears are those we can't quite
>>name.  What do you folks think might be the names of the fears we have of
>>students?
>>
>>later,
>>james
>>"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>>                    Dr. James Werchan
>>(or maybe it's just someone who kinda looks a lot like him)
>>              Ohio State University at Lima
>>                    4240 Campus Drive
>>                     Reed Hall #135
>>                     Lima, OH 45804
>>                      419-995-8882
>>
>>                    werchan.1@osu.edu
>>
>>  Come and visit: "http://www.lima.ohio-state.edu/~wacc"
>>"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>>
>>
>>