Teachers vs. Students

In the comp history class yesterday I was talking about the rhetoric of teachers vs. students—the rhetoric that paints students as fools/villains and teachers as heroes/victims. I don’t remember the context of my remarks or actually even what I said (hey, it’s 3:30 in the morning, and I’m waiting for the aspirin to kick in so I can maybe get some more sleep; sucks to be me), but the issue bubbles up again here in the middle of the night, as I come across Clancy’s link to yet another example of the discourse. Like Clancy, I giggled when I read it. And then I sighed and put it on my bibliography of sources.

I’ve been alert to this discourse ever since 1985, when I found myself part of a staff-taught Western civ course at Colgate, and I had to suffer through weekly meetings in which ancient self-satisfied white male “colleagues” pontificated on the only correct way to teach the Odyssey and the Gospel According to Luke; ignored or derided anything I attempted to contribute to the “discussion”; and never spoke of their students in any terms other than Other. Do my remarks about that scene sound intemperate? Perhaps; but hey, at least I’m not listing their names here. That’s some restraint, right?

Bibliography follows. Most of the sources are examples of the teacher-vs.-student discourse; a few analyze it. Way too few. Additions/corrections appreciated.

187. Dir. Kevin Reynolds. Perf. Samuel L. Jackson, John Heard, Ellen Henry, Clifton Collins, Jr., Tony Plana, and Leonard L. Thomas. Warner, 1997.

Clio, Max. “Grading on My Nerves.” Chronicle of Higher Education 18 Nov. 2003.

English, Hugh. “Difficulty for Whom?: Teachers’ Discourse about Difficult Students.” Conflicts and Crises in the Composition Classroom—and What Instructors Can Do About Them. Ed. Dawn Skorczewski and Matthew Parfitt. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2003. 119-124.

Galef, David. “My 57th Recommendation Letter This Week.” Inside Higher Ed. 23 Feb. 2005. 25 Feb. 2005
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Hall, Matt. “Why I Quit Teaching.” Chronicle of Higher Education 24 Apr. 2003.

Harris, Miriam Kalman. “We Are Smarter Than Our Students.” Chronicle of Higher Education 11 Oct. 2002.

Harvey, Gordon. “Repetitive Strain: The Injuries of Responding to Student Writing.” ADE Bulletin 134-135 (Spring/Fall 2003): 43-48.

Laird, Ellen. “Internet Plagiarism: We All Pay the Price.” Chronicle of Higher Education (13 July 2001): B5.

Ruscello, Sophia. “The Perfect Job, Except for the Students.” Chronicle of Higher Education 1 Oct. 2003.

Silverman, Gillian. “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Plagiarism Buster!” Newsweek (15 July 2002): 12.