I had a rather disconcerting experience towards the end of last week. I was running a seminar on my history of slavery course to which I expected eight attendees, and I got none! Not only was this a waste of my time but it also started me wondering whether this is a growing trend among academics and students alike.
Certainly back when I was an undergraduate a seminar was very occasionally written off by the tutor because not enough of us had shown up. This was a treat for us students as we had an extra hour to mess around rather than have to think seriously!
There was also the odd occasion where we were there in the classroom but our tutor wasn’t: usually for reasons of illness but I do remember one time when a lecturer had gone off to a conference and forgotten to get anyone to cover his classes for him. So, the odd lapse on the side of the teacher is also common.
A blogpost in Chronicle this week debates the issue of academic non-attendance at conferences and asks whether this is a rising trend in light of the financial cutbacks. Commentators on the post claimed that there have always been a small percentage of ‘no-shows’ at conferences and anyway, some of these large meetings are of limited scholarly worth. That can be the topic of another blog entry in the future!
I wanted to use these examples to highlight the problem of non-attendance among students and academics. While either party missing one session is hardly earth-shattering, it does show a general lack of respect for a commitment entered into. One of the largest complaints by students on the NSS (National Student Survey) is that their lecturers turn up late or not at all. And it is very annoying for lecturers to turn up and find that no students have bothered to attend. So, barring illness, if we say we’re going to do something, let’s all try to do it and build up the respect between staff and student again.
I think that it is also too easy to forget that the students are the paying customers. Although we may not be paid for the hours we put in or many of the tasks of teaching, that isn’t their problem; they’re paying for a service and should be able to expect to receive it. For this reason I never exercise the technical liberty I have to throw people out of a seminar if they haven’t prepared. That was a stupid choice on their part but the choice is theirs, and not really mine. This may weaken my classroom discipline however. What do you think?