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Thriving in Academe
Tales from Real Life

True Confessions

Remember the song “Kids,” from Bye, Bye, Birdie:

“Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in ev’ry way?
Oh, what’s the matter with kids today?”

So do I. I used to get angry and frustrated when my students didn’t do the assigned readings. I took it personally as a sign of their disloyalty. Then I learned what good company I was in—not only my colleagues but also many of the fine faculty whose courses I took in college.

Mea culpa, I didn’t always do the readings myself. Sometimes I put them off until just before the exam. In one course—on an area I later taught and published in—I quickly realized the professor lectured the readings, so all I did was attend the lectures and take good notes.

But I wasn’t alone. According to several studies (Hobson, 2004), the proportion of students regularly doing the readings has held at 20-30 percent for the past 30 years!

During my faculty workshops on student reading, I’ve surveyed participants on their undergraduate reading habits, and most of our colleagues weren’t perfect students either. Still, almost all of us did well in college anyway. Why don’t our students?

Let’s not forget who we academics are. We excelled at comprehending and retaining material from lectures and print. Plus, we were motivated to learn, often interested in the subject matter, and entranced by the life of the mind.

Sadly—and ironically—the best students can become the worst teachers. We can’t understand and anticipate our students’ learning challenges because we never faced them.

—Linda B. Nilson
Clemson University

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