Mutual incomprehension
It seems, then, that there is a "generation gap" when students and teachers look at each other. And, in fact, professors and students are not necessarily satisfied when they look at themselves either. We learned this by asking respondents to sum up their overall views of students and of teachers in one phrase.
Respondents were allowed to respond freely on the questionnaires, and gave a dazzling variety of answers. We found it possible, in turn, to group these under ten or so headings. Though this large number means that no single answer ranks very high in percentage terms, there is still no harm in comparing them.
First we look at how teachers see other faculty. The top five responses, in order, were "professional and responsible," "of uneven quality," "only interested in those things that are useful for personal advancement," "occupied with many outside pursuits," and "hard-working." The top five responses given by students to describe their teachers, on the other hand, were "unconcerned about students," "able to teach the material, but not able to develop the individual's character," "knowledgeable," "of uneven quality," and "enthusiastic and sincere."
When teachers commented on students, their top five responses were "not studious," "only interested in those things that are useful for personal advancement," "disrespectful of their teachers," "impractical," and "lively and fun to be with." Students' views of themselves were "just muddling through without real effort to learn," "only interested in those things that are useful for personal advancement," "free," "independent," and "ignorant."
Interestingly, while both students and faculty seem to have largely agreed on their impressions of students-lack of effort and self-interest figure prominently in responses by both groups-there are differences in the most common responses with regard to teachers. Whereas a plurality of teachers (more than 10%) chose "professional and responsible" to describe the typical university level educator, a plurality of students (also over 10%) said that their overall impression of faculty in general is that they are "unconcerned about students."
Regardless of whether they are evaluating their own group or the other, today's university students and teachers had relatively little to say of a positive nature; most comments were negative. Is this really what they are trying to say? Or is it that current discourse in society is customarily done with a critical attitude and negative descriptive terms? As one link in the chain of relationships in the larger community, to what extent does the microcosm of the campus reflect something about society in general? That's a question that deserves everyone's attention.
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p.19
Do you believe that the traditional high degree of respect for teachers still exists in our society?
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Do you think it is essential to preserve this tradition today?
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Do you think faculty should be given first priority for use of a school's public resources (like parking spaces)?
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Do you agree with the following statement: Students pay tuition, and therefore are "consumers," so on campuses they should benefit from the principle of "the consumer always gets that he wants."
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Have accusations by students in the media of plagiarism and sexual harassment by professors had an impact on the image of teachers?
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If students feel that teachers have acted inappropriately and publicly criticize the teachers, are they showing excessive disrespect?
P.22
Do you agree with the following statement: Opposing or expressing doubts about the teacher's viewpoint in class is a sign of disrespect.
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Do you think university faculty should have the right to give students grades for conduct?
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Do you think students are qualified to judge the teaching performance of their professors?
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In your view, which type of relationship is ideal for student-faculty relations at the university level?
Do you think students are qualified to judge the teaching performance of their professors?
In your view, which type of relationship is ideal for student-faculty relations at the university level?