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Dad: Maybe if we tied it down so it couldn't move it wouldn't get so hungry.
Daughter: You can't do that, Dad, it's cruel!
Dad: Oh, everything's cruel according to you. Keeping him chained up in the backyard is cruel. Pulling on his tail is cruel. Yelling in his ears is cruel. Everything is cruel. So, excuse me if I'm cruel!
That's not a secret transcript of the director of the Gestapo ICE negotiating care for his family dog. No, that's Homer Simpson discussing how to handle Bart's pet Stampy the elephant. Homer: Now I've had my head in an elephant, a hippo, and a giant sloth.
I've been thinking an awful lot about cruelty lately... I mean actual, perpetrators-would-burn-in-hell-if-I-believed-in-hell cruelty. For example, about how many people are willing to make excuses for sending refugee children to concentration camps. I feel helpless and depressed.
Next, I've thought back to the times that I, personally, have been labeled "cruel" by students, parents, and colleagues. Refusing to answer questions during a test: "cruel." Insisting on a serious written attempt at a problem before I offer help: "cruel."
In the past, I've simply given matter-of-fact explanations for my approach to teaching, usually with a smile on my face. "A test is my opportunity to see what my students can do on their own, not how well they can pump me for information." "If I ‘help’ before you’ve thoroughly engaged with the problem, you won’t gain the critical experience that will help you figure out how to approach unfamiliar problems on exams.”
I’ve let the overwrought label “cruel” deflect off of my mental armor unchallenged. After all, who cares… by year’s end, the vast majority of students change their tune, ace their AP or final exam, and send me notes of thanks for holding them to high standards while still showing support for and belief in their ability.
It's time to change our tune. The more I think about it, we should *all* care about the insidious emotional manipulation of casually labeling a teacher as “cruel.” I think we should stand firm, and forcefully correct anyone who deigns to use this epithet directed at any teacher. I’ve got two important reasons for fighting back.
(1) Your reputation matters; Words and labels matter. When people call you cruel, they are fighting a modern political battle, using emotionally charged language alongside truth-neutral hyperbole to discredit you for their own purposes. The endgame is to force you to reduce or eliminate your demands for rigorous intellectual engagement while delivering high grades. This approach is the localized, small-scale version of Brexit’s “More money for the NHS” or 2016 America’s “Lock Her Up!” Keep pounding the same talking points that hit the audience right in the feels, and then facts don’t matter.
Colleagues and parents are already predisposed toward a negative opinion of the physics teacher. The subject we teach is fundamentally different, as is good pedagogy in our subject. But also, physics teachers themselves are generally different from our colleagues. We are so often outsiders to the mainstream education community. And as we’ve seen the past few years, it doesn’t take much discrediting nonsensical propaganda to turn a community’s outsiders into outcasts. You might give the highest grades in the department, you might over the year assign less homework than any other AP teacher… but if the “cruel” label sticks, you’ll be in political trouble despite reality.
(2) Hyperbole of labeling a well-meaning teacher “cruel” dilutes the impact of calling out true cruelty. Right now, powerful people are abusing their positions to direct acts of authentic, deep cruelty, and they’re doing so publicly and shamelessly. When someone calls a teacher “cruel” they set up a dangerous false equivalence.
You really think that me not allowing retests is on the level with harassing Sandy Hook victims’ parents until they must go into hiding? That refusing to assign vacuous “extra credit” is the same as forcibly taking away children of asylum seekers, then lying about and profiting from the kidnapping? Because that’s what you’re saying when you call me or my pedagogy “cruel.”
I’m sorry your child or your advisee is going to have a harder time getting into Princeton if (s)he earns a B in physics. I hope (s)he can turn that into an A eventually. It is perhaps my most fervent wish that your kid’s B counted as the cruelest event to happen to an American teenager this year.
Are you frustrated with me, with my course, with physics, with the entire hierarchical educational system? That’s fine. That’s fair.
But it’s not cruel.
I agree with your assessment, and I'd broaden it further: we need to proactively promote the idea that teachers, including those of the physics variety, are fundamentally on the same "team" as the students, and that we all have the same goal in mind: the students' success in our courses. Now, the conversation turns to 1. What do we mean by "success?" The letter "A" doesn't count for much once you leave high school, after all; and 2. How can we successfully improve if the subject is, at first, difficult? How do we adjust our learning strategy?
ReplyDeleteI can't really blame a student for wanting an A and being disappointed if they don't get one. At the same time, it's important to find ways to talk about the learning material instead of the grade.
One last thought: I've encouraged my students not to get involved in negativity on twitter. Searching "AP Physics" on that site is a good way to get 50 recent comments of, "I hate this / my teacher is cruel / I should've taken [insert other course here] and gotten an easy A." Although I will give them props for the memes involving dough this year after the exam. Some of those were pretty solid.
Hi Greg,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your defense of what should and should not be considered cruel. For that reason, I agree that it is important to be explicit with students about why you maintain higher expectations. I am currently having difficulties on the other end of the spectrum; my school is an alternative school where many students are in some sort of credit retrieval plan and any teacher who holds an expectation beyond showing up for class is fair game to be labeled "cruel". As teachers, we are always toeing the line between pushing students to exert effort in our course and risking them skipping our class. Furthermore, when half the class is absent every third day, we are in a constant state of trying to catch students up from different places in the course. In this case, it has been difficult to hold higher expectations, since we can't possibly catch each student up with the full lectures they missed. Most often, this results in students asking us what they need to get by, and we spoon-feed it to them. I have noticed with our hands-on activities, students are generally intrinsically motivated to put in a high degree of effort. However, on days where we decide to lecture, or teach scientific literacy skills, students usually immediately give up on us. I think in these cases, it might be beneficial to be more explicit about why we need to be "cruel" sometimes as teachers, but perhaps give them a better label to use instead.
I've been there, anonymous. Let's give students and parents a different label to use. How do we refer to a successful football coach who loves his or her players, and who also demands focus and hard work in (and out of) practice?
ReplyDeleteSteadfast. Sedulous. Honorable. Mature. Persistent. Prudent.
ReplyDelete