Why Are Teachers So Entitled

Last post on entitlement (I promise, at least for a while), but Dave Porter'southward annotate to the recent post on responding to entitlement identified something I've been thinking about only hadn't clearly recognized—instructor entitlement. He writes that in his nigh forty years in the classroom he's "seen more instances of instructor 'entitlement' than student entitlement." He continues, "I think clarity, mutual respect, and reciprocity have a bully deal to do with the expectations teachers and students have of one another. As teachers, we create the game; it's seems a footling disingenuous to blame our students for playing information technology."

And what does teacher entitlement wait like? The farthermost cases are easy to spot. I knew a kinesthesia member who used wax pencils and transparencies to show solutions to problem sets. It was "expected" that students would clean the transparencies for him. I incertitude that many readers of a blog similar this i would deed toward students in seriously entitled ways. Simply what makes so many of u.s. skilful teachers is our willingness to examine our practice with a keenly disquisitional eye that recognizes how small details can convey meaning messages.

Another insight that came to me through Dave's comment was that it identifies another way to prevent and alter students' entitled attitudes. If we human action in ways that aren't entitled, means that treat students with respect, that evangelize the quality educational experiences they deserve, our leadership creates a different ready of expectations. If nosotros say we'll have the test/paper/projects grades done by Friday, we meet that deadline. We don't come to form on Friday with excuses and a promise that maybe they'll be graded past Mon. We go far to grade on fourth dimension, not several minutes late because we're busy and of import and merely expect students to prove respect past waiting for us to show up. When students come to us with questions after grade, nosotros go on our phones away and talk with them rather than sort of half-heed and endeavor to steal glances to come across what letters we might have missed. Respect extended is by and large respect returned. And when it isn't, nosotros stand tall and give students office of what a college experience entitles them to receive.

The departure between educatee and teacher entitlement is that students have to ask for what they may not deserve. We don't take to enquire. We may repent for not having the papers graded, but nosotros don't need to ask for an extension. We may explain the rationale backside our margin size requirement, but we don't have to. Nosotros have the power to crave margins of whatever size. We can say no to a request for actress credit and with that terminate the conversation. In most cases, there are good reasons behind what we're having students do, but those reasons may not be known to students and without the rationale, they can look like entitled deportment. Now, I don't call up students would ever say nosotros're interim "entitled"—I don't even retrieve they know that their requests for deadline extensions, a few more points, or consideration of how difficult they're working are entitled. Rather, our behavior comes across every bit teachers making rules, doing what they can do, fifty-fifty when in that location's no obvious reason for doing information technology that style. And that's a utilise of ability that can go far the way of learning, much the aforementioned fashion their entitled requests arrive the way of educational activity.

Dave's insight is powerful—nosotros do fix the rules. Are they rules that make learning a game that students want to play? Or, are they rules that beg to exist challenged? Rules that encourage students to find ways effectually them? Rules that aren't related to learning, but are matters of personal preference? And how might the game change if we got students involved in setting some of those rules?

I retrieve it's easy to forget how strongly our behavior influences what students do, what they say, how they experience, and what they think. Most of us don't like to think of ourselves as role models. We are flawed humans who happen to know a lot about a particular content domain, but teaching puts us in a position of leadership. We shouldn't pretend that it doesn't or downplay the responsibilities that come with leading others to learning.

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