Posted on No Comments on Handling Harried Students: How to manage grumbling and complaining in your class

Handling Harried Students: How to manage grumbling and complaining in your class

By Dr. Larry Ruddell, Dean – Belhaven Houston

Teaching adult students provides a wonderful opportunity to bless students from varied backgrounds and also their “generations” and communities. However, it is not always a smooth path! Students with tough backgrounds, demanding schedules, family responsibilities and attending 6-10 pm classes after long work days can let frustrations overflow to professors in or out of the classroom.

So what do you we do? How do we handle “tough customers”?

To begin with, we shouldn’t be surprised when students grumble and complain. The Bible is replete with examples of people who are not happy. See Exodus 16; “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness …” (Exodus 16:2 ESV). … and these are the people who literally saw God do miracles in freeing them from Egypt. As Hebrews 3:7-9 points out, the wilderness wondering could be seen as a test of faith given by God and the people responded by putting God to the test! (v 9)

Fortunately, there are some things we can do to reduce problems. As Romans 12:18 reminds us “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (ESV) So let’s dig in with some specific steps we can take.

– Obviously we should pray for our students before class and audibly as class starts. The Holy Spirit is in charge of human hearts, so setting the tone is helpful

– Set a professional tone. The more the professor is organized, ready to go when class starts, has an agenda, shows enthusiasm for the course material and delivers great teaching until 10 pm … the less likely students will be dissatisfied.

– Head off potential frustration points through effective, proactive communication. It is important to give students a “pathway for success” by helping them clearly understand assignment requirements and particularly knowledge required by exams. So, make sure to review assignments in plenty of time so that you can clarify for students during class. Also, if a student contacts you about an issue that needs clarification, make sure that you let the rest of the class know as well!

– Be careful about making commitments that you don’t keep. As the Scripture reminds us, “let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’ …” (Matthew 5:37) We want to be responsive to students but make sure the words are backed up by action or it will frustrate students.

– If a student is upset, manage the relationship. As Proverbs 15:1 tells us, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

– Others are there to help. Your campus Dean is there to help along with student services. We are a team and different people have different capacities to reach different students!

In conclusion, we may face students who are upset but we want to avoid or manage those issues with Wisdom!

Posted on 1 Comment on Higher Standards

Higher Standards

By Emma Morris, Dean, Atlanta Campus

Here at the Atlanta campus, I have recently been preaching the benefits of holding our professors and students to a higher standard. However, not everyone receives the message well. I have just read four Christian Worldview and Senior Synthesis papers that are almost unintelligible. That makes me wonder what we are teaching our students. I also wonder how they have passed all the courses prior to this Capstone class.

There are many reasons why should we care enough to hold our students to a higher standard in their work. Here are a few:

1.      God’s standard. First and foremost, the Lord demands our best. Colossians 3:23 says, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you are working for the Lord rather than for people.” I think teachers forget that when they pamper students in hopes of a good evaluation, they are not helping the student learn. Yes, we should build constructive relationships with our students, but not keeping students accountable to do quality work dishonors the Lord and is unhealthy for everyone. Remember; we are here to teach, not to be loved. We, as teachers, are the only ones who can hold our students to a standard of academic rigor on the regular course material. I have been a recipient of some of that student unhappiness. Sure, it hurts, but those same students often come back later to say that being held accountable in class changed their lives and even helped them live up to other commitments.

*If you are worried about evaluations, know that your Dean reviews those evaluations and notes potential reasons for any surprisingly low scores.

2.  Communication. Effective writing and speaking are must-have skills in the business world and beyond. Poor communications can cost a company thousands, if not millions, of dollars because of misunderstood instructions or messages. Poor communications reflect poorly on the brand of the company. Who wants a poor communicator representing the company brand? Our students should leave with excellent communication skills so that they can build successful careers on that solid foundation.

3. The value of a Belhaven degree. Just like a company doesn’t want the brand represented by a poor communicator, Belhaven should not accept this, either. If a Belhaven graduate gets a job and the student cannot function at the expected level, our programs are cheapened. We don’t want employers to say (however quietly), that they will never hire another Belhaven graduate if this is the quality of their graduates. Everyone loses if the Belhaven brand suffers.

4.  Success. A student who has been held to higher standards will perform better on the job. One of our current MBA students recently earned a healthy, six-figure job. She started at Belhaven as an undergraduate making only $35,000. She worked hard for her B.A. and has learned the value of strong writing and presentation skills.

5. Independence. Just like we allow our children to fall as they are learning to walk, we must be able to let our students stumble in order to learn. Our programs are designed to help students gain better control of their destinies. They should be ready to spread their wings and fly solo once they have earned a Belhaven degree. If we are constantly handing out “A” grades, will our students ever push themselves to work harder and do better?

6.  Obligation. We are contracted legally to teach our students, not indulge them and make good friends. We just had one of our own graduates fail MSL601. Indulging this student in her undergraduate program only set her up to fail at the graduate level. Is the failure hers or ours? Neither party is fully guilty, but neither party is innocent, either.

7. Integrity. As we stand before God and man, we cannot be liars or deceivers. Leviticus 19:11b says, “Do not deceive or cheat one another.” and Proverbs is also full of admonitions not to lie or steal. Excessive grace is no longer grace; it is deception. Students should not be graduating with less than adequate skills, and permitting them to pass a class without being fully equipped is deceitful and unacceptable.

Remember that we are here to teach our students to the best of our abilities; we are not here to be loved. In fact, two of our toughest teachers are often—eventually—the students’ favorite teachers. You see, setting and keeping standards often yields love as the byproduct!

Although these are only a few reasons why we should be holding our students to higher standards, I am sure they are enough to prepare you to challenge your students to “be all they can be.”