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I joined teaching two years back at an nlu and my mental health has taken a backseat. As a female, more admin work is dumped on me. Students dont care if I ve taught well. I have attended fdps to hone skills . I have excellent degrees..I write blogs, opinion pieces and i also get invited to teach in different forums. But I am disheartened to feel aloof as students only give respect to very strict or very cool teachers. I have decided to quit academia. It fulfils at no level.
(2) No, the world doesn't deserve anything of the sort, especially if said teachers would be embarrassed at having their names revealed on a public forum to which they don't have access or which they don't visit/know of. This is because they have no chance to see what is said about them, or respond in any way. What those fabulous teachers specifically in my case, and extraordinary teachers generally, deserve is to have tributes paid to them non-anonymously (as I have done, by means of email correspondence in my case) and anonymously (as I and several others have done on here). I hope you are not so jaded as to believe that students don't respect teachers' wishes and feelings anymore; if you are, please modify this attitude of mind. This is why I don't understand the level of disbelief communicated. The cynicism demonstrated here is disappointing and disheartening. It's not your fault, working conditions in academia the world over are problematic, but you have allowed the problems to get to you - and that's something you may have to consider working on.
PS: As a sign of consistency and good faith, to show that I wasn't just bullshitting about the life-changing teachers. John Tasioulas, the Professor of Ethics and Legal Philosophy in Oxford, recently tweeted about how in the academia contexts he is familiar with, research is valued far too much at the expense of teaching. As an attempt to cure this wrong thought-process, he asked his followers (which includes me) to tell him about inspiring undergraduate teachers they had had in law and/or philosophy; he kicked off the conversation by listing a couple of Australian academics, including some big names in Australian legal academia. Though I follow Tasioulas on Twitter and engage with his content whenever I can, and though I loved his thought and his prompt to talk about undergraduate teachers, I didn't respond to his prompt, not because I am scared of things being revealed about me (my life-story is emblazened like a banner on my Twitter profile), but because the specific individuals who came to mind upon seeing his prompt (the very same ones who came to mind when seeing this thread) no longer use Twitter, and therefore would have no opportunity to respond; as far as Legally India goes, I doubt they have heard of it (or would want to remember it, if they had).
Besides that, I honestly dont think students are qualified to judge teachers. They dont know the subject, all they can judge is whether they like the person and whether they find class entertaining and fun. Most indian students wouldnt know rigor if it hit them in the face. and studies demonstrate huge biases in how different kinds of teachers are evaluated in student feedback. You want to evaluate teachers? Thats what VCs and deans are for! do spot evaluations, come sit in my classroom and tell me what im doing right and wrong, thats what universities abroad rely on to make tenure decisions.
We dont internet shame students because we allow for students to grow and change and learn and be human. Not so for professors, not so for vice chancellors, every single flaw is picked apart like you're not there to teach them but you're a contestant on indian idol and they're all the mean judge.
If internet shaming is in play- surely it should be in play for everyone. Let's have a purge and see who survives.
I'm making a rhetorical point—teachers won't do it even when their students say and write and behave horribly because teachers are more mature and professional than that. Its a shame that students these days aren't parented or even expected to behave professionally at all. Universities die by doing this. Infantilise your students and treat your teachers like liabilities, and you'll have a bunch of whiny babies and high attrition rates.
To add some more context, you're responding to a teacher.
assignment, every instance of lying to get by while not doing the work. What’s good for the geese must be good for the gander right ?
They might be reluctant to change how they teach cause they’ve been around different educational institutions for years and have different insights into what works and what doesn’t work. And they might see through the nonsensical asks by students that would lower academic standards and turn the university into a paper mill that grant degrees
But even then, I find nothing wrong in students getting to rank teachers on various aspects. It's mostly the uptight, "I won't change how I teach, traditions matter" types who have never stepped into a courtroom but have some very strange visions flowing from Legally Blonde in how they need to conduct their classes.
impress professors so they could get LORs. They were ambitious and motivated and keen to grasp at the opportunity to attend a good university. Now students sit back in class look at their phones, don’t read and it seems are only there to judge you should you commit a wrong think or a faux pas. They behave like judges before they’ve learnt a line of law. And they might never learn it given how ubiquitous gptfraud is. The breakdown of the teacher student relationship turns teaching into a chore. And if I had to do a chore of a job why on earth would I or anyone else do it for so little pay as teaching affords ?
With the greatest possible respect, my experience of law school is living proof of the incorrectness of this statement. Some of the greatest faculty I have ever met, who have absolutely revolutionised my thinking and definitely made my life better, have only taught me one course.
I am willing to accept that this may not reflect the experiences of all students or all faculty, but I still think that it is not correct. Some students may not acknowledge the faculty impact, some may not even realise it until later... you can never really tell (IMO at least). Therefore, please continue to do what you do. Thanks.
2. Overburdening with administrative work
3. Students and administration all blaming faculty
4. Hardly any vacations and if you have, there is work from home
5. Pressure of publications in Scopus with no real time to research
6. Parents calling faculty to discuss why their adult child isnt performing well.
to name a few.....