Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

[IMADreamer]

Yea, I'm sure there are plenty of students that are stupid, but one thing I'm finding in the real world is that people from older generations aren't much better.

Of course not, they are the parents of the stupid kids.

[cards2468]

Yea, I'm sure there are plenty of students that are stupid, but one thing I'm finding in the real world is that people from older generations aren't much better.

Of course not, they are the parents of the stupid kids.

So if stupid is a relative term, and the population generally falls under this category, are they actually stupid?

[cpebbles]

Stupid is a term relative to the observer, not to the average person.

[cards2468]

Stupid is a term relative to the observer, not to the average person.

Does that make us conceited?

[sighyoung]

Not necessarily. For instance, many years ago, I had a student in an intro writing class who was a very poor writer. That didn't make her stupid--she hadn't gone to a school that required much writing, or had provided her with much feedback. I actively encouraged her to come to my office during office hours, to submit drafts ahead of time so I could give her extra feedback, to go to the writing center, all of which she rejected because, she claimed (I doubt it was true) that one college teacher told her that she was a brilliant writer. She was convinced she was going to go to law school (much like a_smith's student).

Well, my student had an accident--she sprayed gasoline on herself at a filling station, and evidently it got in her eyes. (I'll have to take all this for granted--she never provided a doctor's note.) What should have been a one-week absence (so she told me in the hallway one day) wound up leading to her absence for most of the rest of the term. How, I don't know.

Back then, I couldn't connect grades to attendance (an old school policy, now gone). Nevertheless, she did hand in her assignments on time.

One assignment was a research project. She wanted to write on the history of the university. Strange, but whatever. Fine. She literally wrote a paper that was basically, "This building was built in . . . This building was built in . . . This building was built in . . ."

I failed her for the assignment, but it turns out she had enough credit to barely pass the class. Nevertheless, she wrote me a note which read, "Dear Professor Sighyoung, I noticed that you gave me a 'D' in the class. Since I would have received a 'B' in the class if I hadn't had my accident, I am writing to ask that you change my grade to a 'B'. I will check with the Registrar's Oiffice later this week to see if it has changed." Silence on my part.

I did see her on a sidewalk the next semester, when she confronted me by telling me that a professor that semester had told her that she was an outstanding writer. I doubt she was ever accepted to law school.

Call me conceited, but she was stupid.

[sighyoung]

I haven't even mentioned the students who disappear for months, show up the last day of class, and ask if I will give them an incomplete and privately tutor them on my time after the semester is over.

[sighyoung]

Or the Armenian student on meds who would come into my office asking me to vouch that his mediocre English was in fact outstanding English. Every time he came into my office, he would see something and ask, "Can I have that? Can you get one for me?" Something like, say, a teaching award hanging on the wall. "Can I have that? Where did get that? Can you get it for me?"

[heyzeus]

Can I have your teaching award, Sigh?

[slide_into_first]

There was a list similar to the one about "you may be a redneck if..." -about you may have worked in an ER if- one of them was, "if you think 'too stupid to survive' is a bonafide diagnosis."

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Can I have your 'mayor of GRB' custom rank?