Monday, October 8, 2007

Institutions should offer degrees in Psychology of Undergraduate Students. I think it'd be a fascinating field. I've even got a case study. I cancelled class on Tuesday and said that instead I expected to meet with all of my students one-on-one, and that I'd still take attendance. So thinking rationally, wouldn't you rather meet with a teacher one-on-one--for a shorter and at a later time--than in a class of 15 at 8 AM? But students have their own psychology: if we have class, they feel like they are required to be there; if class is "cancelled," meetings (even though the consequences of not attending are the same) are clearly optional.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Why don't you write the book on the psychology of undergraduates? It sounds like you have plenty of case studies to draw on.

There are a variety of adages that occur to me: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." "People are their own worst enemies." "Half the secret of success in life is just showing up" (if you allow a Woody Allen quote the honor of adage status.)

Keep on keeping on!

Love,

Dad