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Feature Article: Dealing with Entitled Students
The Academic Ladder The online newsletter for academics from graduate students to
tenured professors. Brought to you by AcademicLadder.com and
Gina J. Hiatt, Ph.D.
Today's Topic (Jan 20, 2005)
Entitled students driving you to distraction? Here are ideas
for dealing with them.
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Feature Article: Dealing with Entitled Students
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Dealing With Entitled Students - Gina Hiatt, Ph.D
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If you've taught in higher education, it's happened to you.
"You can't give me a C in this class! I need to maintain a B
average to stay on the team/keep my scholarship/lame excuse."
Often this student has done the minimum during the semester,
and it may be the first time he or she has shown any interest
in communicating with you. Several of my clients or respondents on my website were upset
about this very issue at the end of last semester. I sent a
letter about the issue of entitled demanding students to a
listserv for faculty development experts, and received many
excellent (and often emotional) replies. I have incorporated
their replies into this article. Please be aware that some recommendations may not be
appropriate for your department or your discipline if you
are going to do something that may be unusual, it's best to
check it out with your chair first. Grad Students
-------------------------------------------------------------- Read the following section for professors. Most of it can be
used by TA's, except for the comments on course design and
tenure. Even if you are not a TA, you may well find yourself
teaching some day, so read on!
Professors
--------------------------------------------------------------
You are not alone in finding this kind of interaction
upsetting, annoying or enraging. If your administration is not
supportive, or if you have cause to believe that tenure and
review depends too much on student evals of your teaching,
you may feel some anxiety.
** Prevention
--------------------------------------------------------------
What can you do about this situation? The best answer is
prevention, to the extent that this is possible. Prepare your
students at the beginning of the semester. Let them know that you are going to challenge them, in order
to help them develop critical thinking and other higher order
skills. At the beginning of the semester, supply the students
with a grading scale that makes it explicit what they will
have to do to earn A's, B's and so on. Some professors have their students sign an agreement that
says they have read and understood the grading scale.
Furthermore, have a rubric for each assignment. It helps to
have examples, without names, of the best work from previous
semesters. The more opportunities for feedback to the student about his
or her performance during the semester, the less opportunity
there will be for surprise. One professor gave interim
cumulative grades after a few tests. Of course, more tests,
quizzes or assignments mean more work for you. Consider rewarding students for their improvement throughout
the semester; i.e. putting less weight on their earlier
efforts. This encourages students, as opposed to making them
feel demoralized (and then taking their frustrations out on
you in their evaluations.)
**Handling the Entitled Student
--------------------------------------------------------------
How to handle these entitled students when they appear
complaining at the end of the semester? If you can, prepare
yourself. If they set up an appointment, ask them what the
purpose is. As one professor suggested, you are less likely
to overreact if you are not caught by surprise. One way to defuse the situation is to use active listening.
Sympathizing with the student's plight can decrease both your
anger and the student's. This does not mean, however, that
you change your position. First, check that there was no error in entering the grade.
If you have a grading scale, this is a great time to take it
out and ask where the student felt that their grade exceeded
your grade. If they persist despite the evidence that the
grade they received was deserved, you can point out that they
are in fact asking you to lie. Of course, some students have been trained by their parents
and/or earlier teachers to expect that you don't need to earn
grades. They have become "professional complainers," and try
this technique out whenever they can. When you realize that
these types of students exist, you won't take it personally. I hope that your administration is supportive, and doesn't
place undue emphasis on student evaluations in tenure and
review, without considering other sources of information about
your teaching. There should be general agreement in your
department about the expectations for certain classes. An
unsupportive department is only shooting itself in the foot,
as it will have demoralized and dissatisfied professors. The next time you are approached by an entitled underachiever,
I hope that you will feel better able to cope with the
situation without taking it personally. Best of luck you're
not alone!
© Gina Hiatt, PhD
Gina is a dissertation and tenure coach. She helps academics,
from grad students wondering about their dissertation topic to
faculty members who want to maintain a high level of research
and writing, to reach their goals more quickly and less painfully.
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Book of the Week
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