How to Talk to The Entitled Student

Kirk Rintoul (Humber College, Canada)

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"Why Work?" Article “We don’t feel ashamed for being on benefits.

Neither of us have the slightest bit of guilt towards the taxpayers as both of our parents have been paying into the tax system for the last 30 years…..so I don’t see what the problem is. The fault lies with the system, not us. There’s just no incentive to find work when we’ve got a better lifestyle than if we were to go out and work for 35-40 hours every week. Why would we give this up?”

It’s Everywhere!

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Dear R.J.:

| | I am contacting the law clerk co-ordinator M.S. today concerning the instance of academic misconduct this morning in Test 1 where I observed you using an additional help sheet in violation of the Test rules to which you agreed to on the cover of Test 1 which were announced in class on 3 separate occasions and posted to Blackboard. A copy of the additional help sheet was seized and you admitted to possession of the additional help sheet.| A mark of zero for Test 1 has been assigned accordingly.| All instances of academic misconduct must be reported to the program co-ordinator as per school policy and the names of students involved are provided to the Dean of the Business School.| This incident is most regrettable.| Kirk

My e-mail to cheater caught with extra ‘help sheet’

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“Sir the additional sheet didn't

even help me, it was smaller than what you said we could have. I am deeply hurt that I will receive a zero is there any way I can get my mark for this test?” – R.J.

The entitled cheater….

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Hi Kirk,

Hope you are having a good holiday!

I was just wondering if there was anything I could still do to higher my final mark by a couple percent. My overall average is 78.8% and I wanted to see if there is any way I could still get honours this semester.

Please let me know

Thanks so much and happy holidays!

Anna

The end of term beggar…..

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“[It] is the opinion of the choice virtuosi, that

the brain is only a crowd of little animals but with teeth and claws extremely sharp, and therefore cling together in the contexture we behold…like bees in perpendicular swarm upon a tree, or like a carrion corrupted into vermin still preserving the shape and figure of the mother animal.” – Jonathan Swift, Discourses Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit

The Problem: The Self

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“In democratic societies,

each citizen is habitually busy with the contemplation of a very petty object, which is himself.” –Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy In America

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“Men are no longer bound together by

ideas but by interests; and it would seem as if human opinions were reduced to a sort of intellectual dust, scattered on every side, unable to collect, unable to cohere.” -Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in

America

Democracy

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“Exceptional” “Just your opinion” “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken”

1950’s Survey of Students: 12% of students agreed with statement “I am an important person”

Today: 80%!!!!

“Generation Me” (Twenge)

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Causes

1. “Narcissism Epidemic” (Twenge)

2. Moral relativism 3. Consumerism 4. Radical individualism 5. Egalitarianism (social

justice: equality of outcomes, affirmative action, ESL + disability accommodations)

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Yesterday v Today

Soul Selfish Polite Formality Morality Rules

Self Entitled “Authentic” Casualness “Choices” Self-advocacy

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Group Problems

See worksheet Groups of 4-6

Note: We are NOT dumping on this generation of students!

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Debrief

1. Telling students what they are entitled to (high standards, transparency; like cases treated alike)

Policies (notice, consistent, clear, concise) –importance of the first class

Teachable moments: Values of the profession; soft skills etc.

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Turning it Around…

Student presents themselves as a consumer (“I paid for this course therefore…)

How do you do flip this around? --entitled to quality, brand Have students participate

in their own consumer choice (buying a haircut)

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“Self-esteem Movement”

Twenge says it needs to be scrapped

No evidence (NONE!) that self-esteem keeps young people in school, that it improves performance, leads to success, lowers probability of criminal activity or lowers drop out rates

Teenage girls and self-esteem? Not significantly lower than that of boys

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Grade inflation

83% increase in high school ‘A’ students from 1976-2006 (Twenge)

Twenge cites experiment in providing self-esteem messages to student (Narcissism Epidemic)

Praise, actually LOWERED test scores

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Twenge Advice

“Explain [basis for evaluation] and move on”

Don’t take it personally Today’s student like work

to be ‘fun’ (games, puzzles disguised as learning)

Allow students to make mistakes and learn from them

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What’s wrong with failure?

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ― Winston Churchill

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

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Lippman et all

Students assuming risk of lower mark on a remark

Classroom: socializing students to assume responsibility for their efforts

“inverted classroom” student engaged in the business of the disciplines

Bridging technology gap Posting anonymous

examples of excellent assignments

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Institutional Responses

Lippman et al :

Problem of part-time faculty: appeasement of students for good SFQ’s

Overdependence on SFQ’s to assess faculty, probationary faculty

‘rewarding teachers who challenge rather than cede”

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What do you say when…?

Student: “I got 8 out of 10. Where did I lose the marks?”

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Role of Higher Education

In a democracy to curb the excesses and fetishes of the democratic citizen Equality and

freedom

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“…the full development of the soul

means a lessening of selfishness, of individuality –a conformity of oneself to the very best. When one’s soul is fully developed one’s childhood and personal history do not matter very much.” –George Anastaplo, Joyce To Shakespeare.

“Growth” and the Soul

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2012 Election

America’s Choice: “A country where we mean it when we talk about personal freedom – or one where that freedom doesn’t apply to our bodies and our voices.”

Photo www.abcnews.com

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“No one cares”

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Resources

Jean M Twenge Generation Me Jean M Twenge, The Narcissism Epidemic Stephen Lippmann et al “Student Entitlement”

College Teaching, Vol . 57/No. 4 page 197