Your Students Do Not Deserve Your Cynicism

It's that time of the semester. In mid-November we all get a bit frazzled - the semester's been running forever and yet the end still feels far away. For students reality is setting in - the stakes are getting higher and that target grade may be slipping away, and so they're making their asks - for extensions, for make-ups, for extra credit, for regrades of earlier assignments.

'Tis the season to be cynical! My advice: resist!

Look, I get it, some students are more work than others. I have 1200 students this semester across four classes, and on that scale the raw number of asks is a lot. I can't tell you how many email replies I send that start with, "As noted in the syllabus..." It can drive you nuts!

But I fear that as we stand in the office doorways of our colleagues complaining about This Week's Annoyance or venting about That One Student on social media that we end up constructing, broadcasting, reinforcing and ultimately believing a cynical narrative about These Kids Today. Lazy! Entitled! Coddled! Such a narrative is not only dangerous, it is overwhelmingly false.

Sure, I get a lot of asks. But the actual percentage of students who make them is small. It is tempting to knee-jerk assume they're asking out of entitlement or laziness, but it does not hurt you one bit to start from an assumption that the student is a good person who is actually trying. Maybe they didn't want to ask for extra credit, but their parents told them to do so, assuring them "It doesn't hurt to ask!" This student who's been missing class may have childcare issues, that student falling asleep in class may be working late to pay for college. Students in their first year may be struggling to make friends, to make the transition to college, or - like all of us faculty - they're just burned out by this time of the semester. 

Your students do not deserve your cynicism. 

Let me repeat that: YOUR STUDENTS DO NOT DESERVE YOUR CYNICISM. 

The large percentage of them are there to do the work in good faith, and you owe them good faith in return. Sometimes they mess up, of course. They're young! You and I all screwed up at the same age. You and I still screw up at our current age! And when we do, how would we have others view us? With cynicism? Or with grace?

Choosing to resist cynicism with your students does not obligate you to accept every excuse or every late assignment. This is not about being indulgent, but about acknowledging the humanity of our students. It's about treating each student as an individual, without assuming you know a student via lazy, cynical stereotypes. It's about not letting your frustration with the state of higher ed or your institution trickle down to the people who matter most.

And, selfishly, resisting cynicism is about your health and happiness. We've all known that late-career burnout professor with something negative to say on every topic at every meeting, but I guarantee you he didn't start his career like that. At some point he chose to give in. Cynicism is a rough, miserable mindset that will make decades of your career hard to bear. 

You don't have to choose that path. Try to always remember the privilege that has been granted us, the privilege of spending time with curious, hardworking young people, sharing our knowledge and learning from theirs. Bring that attitude into the classroom, into your lab, even into the office hour with that student making their ask. You'll be a better professor and a happier human. That'll help get you through the decades. That'll help get you through November.