Civility: What Went Wrong?
The problems in our classrooms go a lot deeper
than bad manners.
by Steven M. Richardson,
Winona State University
The incivility too often seen in
today’s classroom suggests we may have lost the connection that makes
learning possible.
I have a friend who teaches students with hearing
disabilities. We often trade stories about teaching, and we commiserate about
the challenges we never quite seem to overcome.
“You know what frustrates me more than anything?”
she said one day.
I imagined the difficulties she must face communicating
technical concepts in sign language, and I said so.
“No,” she said. “It’s having a student
close his eyes while I’m talking.”
My friend’s complaint illustrates a common thread among
the many forms of incivility we all experience as faculty.
By closing his eyes, a deaf student has said to my friend:
“I choose not to participate in learning with you right now.”
In other classrooms, students read the newspaper, giggle,
tell jokes, doodle on desktops, or simply “zone out” during
discussions. Some students arrive late, leave early, or skip class altogether.
Mercifully few students actually disturb a class with
emotional tirades or aggressive physical behavior, but even the most passive
acts of incivility tell teachers that we’ve lost connection.
To build or restore classroom civility, we must
reconnect.
Meet Steven M. Richardson
Steven M. Richardson spent 20 years teaching geology in
classrooms at Iowa State University. He is now the vice president for academic
affairs at Winona State University.
Richardson is an experienced faculty
developer and a past board member of the Professional and Organizational
Development Network in Higher Education. He was also the editor and a
contributor to the book entitled Promoting Civility: A Teaching Challenge
(Jossey Bass, 1999).
You can contact Richardson at: 211
Somsen Hall, Winona State University, Winona MN 55987, or E-mail
srichardson@winona.msus.edu. |
