I am perplexed and dumbfounded at how many students consistently miss class.
Then I remember what it was like when I was a student. No. Wait. I always went to class. Sometimes I slept through it, but that's another story. At least I went. And when I was a fully grown mature adult of 30 something, going to Cal State Los Angeles with a bunch of what seemed like teenagers, I NEVER missed a class. Even when we had earthquakes. Even when we had riots. I was serious about my education. After all, I was paying good money for it, or at least I was borrowing good money for it (that's when I was still using credit cards). I was going to get something for my time and Citibank's money, and I did, by showing up to class.
I realize that many of my students are single parents of chronically drippy kids. I realize they are living on next to nothing, waiting for their student loan money to come through, trying to keep gas in the beater, living out of vending machines... it's not easy, I realize.
But some of the students who face the toughest challenges are rarely or never absent. And they work their fingers raw catching up. So, I ask you, what makes some students motivated to show up for their own education, and others not? And is there anything that I can do, as an instructor, to motivate them to care about showing up?
Wait a minute. Do I sound like I care? I don't, not really. It's not my responsibility to motivate another person. Even if it were, I don't have that kind of power. I can't make someone think or believe or feel a certain way. Even if I held a gun to their collective heads, I couldn't force them to want to learn. All I can do is try to present the material in a way they find engaging and offer persuasive arguments for why they should learn it. It's sales, basically. I'm just a huckster for higher education. And I use the word "higher" loosely.
