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Unnecessary Complications: The Neediest Students I’ve Ever Encountered

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Even though it’s been a while since I’ve posted an “unnecessary complications” commentary, I’ve still been encountering way too many completely ridiculous complications nearly everywhere I turn. Today, I’m going to write about one of the most aggravating issues that I’ve encountered while engaged in this online teaching stuff.

Canadian students in a lecture hall - not my students, but students nonetheless

Some of you might recall a little over a year ago when I wrote about how I was getting a little suspicious of the online learning environment and its influence on student achievement. In short, that blog entry talked about how I was unimpressed at the amount of classes that the online college I work for allowed their students to take at a single time. Further, I’ve been continually unimpressed by the inability for my online students to write in an academically acceptable manner or conform to basic academic formatting standards. Frankly, my students are not great writers nor do they give a damn about the required academic formats (APA, MLA, etc) when submitting their papers.

And still – as aggravating as those issues may be to an educator, believe it or not the focus of this article is something different! Today, my unnecessary complication is the with the attitudes of my online learners. To put it succinctly, these students don’t understand the first thing about the teacher/student relationship! Actually, there is a second annoyance that I’ve been encountering with my students which has to do with their inability to comprehend the nature of the online learning environment, but let me bitch about the teacher/student relationship first!

I’ve been continually amazed at how poorly prepared for the advanced learning environment some of my online learners are when my classes start. Now granted, I’m not talking about the entire class of students nor am I referring to even half of the class. However, at least 10% to 15% of each class that I teach is comprised of students who do not understand their role in the teacher/student relationship. Let me define that a little bit more…

I do not expect my students to be rote learners like we’re all stuck in the 1950’s or something. Instead, I expect my students to understand that they are not my customers – they are my students. This is a big topic of discussion in the higher education circles: whether the people who sit in the classrooms are customers/consumers or students. And, to my great disappointment, the trend is pushing more towards students being viewed as customers instead of seekers of knowledge or impassioned learners.

This is a big problem.

Defining a student as a consumer puts the student in a position to believe (incorrectly) that they can control the flow of work in the class (homework and weekly assignments) or the requirements for passing the class (grading metrics and evaluation rubrics). Why does this happen? Well, it happens for the same reason that, as a consumer, you can bitch and moan to your local auto mechanic and get your bill lowered. Namely… the customer is always right!

Exacerbating this problem is that this customer/teacher relationship just doesn’t work well in online learning (or higher education in general). In fact, it is the job of the college to tell these “customers” when they are dead wrong. At some point I hope to write a longer piece on this blog about how creating the customer vs. student scenario has led to the painful destruction of what should be a great American academic system. For now, though, my focus is on how some of my students believe that they can dictate my grading schedule. It’s outrageous! I had a student e-mail me two weeks before the class ended to tell me that he expected his final grade to be completed within 12 hours of his final paper being submitted (which was due the following weekend) because he needed to report his grade to the company that funds his education. After laughing out loud, I e-mailed the student back and explained that there is a ten day period between when the final student work is submitted and the final grades are due and that he should expect to see his final grade at some point towards the end of that ten day period.

He began e-mailing me every single day about his final grade. The student started contacting me one day prior to the class ending through the middle of the ten day period, which was when I had completed my final grading and submitted his grade for posting. Luckily, the online university was on my side in this debacle because – believe it or not – the student had been contacting the university daily, too!

For the last course that I taught, I had five or six of these unnecessary student complications. Again, all of this stems from the idea that the student is a customer and not a person being evaluated for his or her academic capabilities.

To finish up, the other item that annoys me about the online learning environment is the lack of online learners to understand how this arrangement is supposed to work. The best example that I can give is the students themselves – these are good people who, for one reason or another, could not attend college during the traditional time in one’s life where they would attend college (right after high school or a few years after high school ended). Maybe they started a family, maybe they took over the family business, maybe they had a job in the trades and are only now going back to get a degree – whatever the case, these folks are typically hard-working, already employed people on crazy schedules.

And I totally respect that fact. In fact, I encourage more people who are not of the traditional college age to seek out methods to procure college degrees.

What shocks me, though, is that these online learners don’t take a minute to do the least bit of research on the people who teach their classes because if they did – surprise, surprise – they’d find out that their professors are in the same boat! We’re typically teaching at two or three universities and, in my case, I’ve got a variety of jobs and volunteer positions that take up all of my time. In other words, when I have a “customer” student complaining that they want their grade to be submitted first and ten days earlier than the rest of the class, it makes me want to punch the wall. There’s an arrogance – an ignorance of reality – in that request. There’s a certain, “I’m in charge and I’m paying you for my degree so fork over what I want, when I want it – NOW!” in that type of request.

It’s unacceptable and I hope that my fellow online teachers are approaching these problems the same way that I do – with the knowledge that we have an obligation to uphold the academic standards of our institutions and thus we need to be sure that the teacher/student relationship as well as the teaching environment are both preserved and respected.

Unnecessary Complications: Folks Who Can’t See Past Politics

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By now, I think that if you frequent JerseySmarts.com you know that from time to time I like to tell stories. I don’t know if I’m a good storyteller, but I think I get the job done well enough. For this entry, I’m going to just write a little bit about something that has been bothering me, but without going into too much detail about the origin of the angst.

Let’s see if I can do it!

Do you know people who blindly follow everything that the leaders of their chosen political party or political point of view say? You know – that friend of yours who never thinks that anything a Republican/Democrat (depends on your friend’s point of view) does is worth any good at all. These people bother me. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of these brainwashed people from both sides of the aisle emerge over the national debt debate. There are conservative minded people who think that the government should stop spending money, period. There are liberal minded people who think that the debt ceiling should have no limit because they don’t think it matters. And then there are the vast majority of Americans who believe that something needs to be done that includes both spending cuts and getting rid of loopholes that allow the ultra wealthy to not pay their fair share in taxes.

In other words, there are people who understand that compromise is the right way to go and there are people who have a blind allegiance to whatever one political party says.

Those people with the blind allegiance frustrate me.

However, forget about the national debate over the debt limit for a moment. There’s an example much closer to home that frustrates me even more. Here in New Jersey we have a very healthy charter school system. For those of you who do not know what a charter school is – it’s a free, public school just like any other public school. There are two primary differences between a charter school and the traditional public school system. The first is that a charter school does not operate under the thumb of the local Board of Education. They’re independent and not beholden to the sometimes crazy local politics that shape local Boards of Education.

The second difference is funding. You know all of that money that you pay in property taxes? Well, that money is filtered through the system in New Jersey a “per pupil” amount is decided for each school district. Ideally, you should be able to track your property tax dollars throughout the system and ultimately say something like, “My 2010 property taxes paid for X students to be educated in the local school district.” Except for charter schools. Yes, they are funded through the same revenue stream as the regular school districts, except they only get 90% of the “per pupil” funding.

Two major differences – independent of the local school board and given less money in an attempt to do a better job at educating your students. Got it? Good!

If you’ve followed the charter school movement in New Jersey, then you know that they are admired by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike. In fact, Governor Chris Christie has ramped up many of the charter school programs that were supported or enacted under former Governor Jon Corzine. There has been a gradual increase in the amount of charter schools operating throughout the Garden State – I think we’re at 70 something schools now. And the most important note to mention about the charter schools operating in New Jersey is that, by and large, they are succeeding.

All you have to do is look at schools like TEAM Academy Charter School in Newark or Camden’s Promise Charter School in Camden or Hope Academy Charter School in Asbury Park and you’ll find students whose parents have rejected the local school districts and are now achieving levels of academic success never before thought possible in these districts. It’s happening, folks – and it’s real. There are a lot of people out there who try to marginalize the charter school movement and their arguments are pretty lame. One of the biggest arguments that I hear goes something like, “Charter schools are private schools! They take money from the public system for a private school!”

That’s totally ridiculous.

Charter schools are totally free, public schools that you can send your child to if you so choose. If there are not enough seats in the charter school to accommodate all of the applicants, then the school holds a public lottery to allocate the seats. It doesn’t get any fairer than that, people.

But what aggravates me the most and what drove me to write this entry is that many of today’s complainers about charter schools didn’t say a word a few years ago when Corzine was governor. Not a word. In fact, many of them lauded the great work that Corzine was doing to support quality charter schools throughout the state. And now we have a very strong, very well-liked Republican governor in a predominantly Democratic state and all of a sudden the supporters of charter schools have become detractors.

It’s sad. It’s pathetic. It’s blind political allegiance.

Mark my words – as soon as a Democrat becomes the governor of this state again, you won’t hear a single peep out of the hate groups that run around these days lambasting Governor Christie’s heroic efforts to support the charter school movement. Those with blind political allegiance will hoot and holler about how great the Democratic governor is and how he or she is fixing all of the problems that Governor Christie “created.”

And amid all of that rubbish there will be nearly no truth.

The truth is that charter schools have succeeded under Republican and Democratic governors alike. The truth is that charter schools have been given a tremendous amount of support under Republican and Democratic governors alike. And the truth is that this state’s politics are so wallowed in people with a fiercely blind political allegiance that those of us with independent voices must continue to shout to be heard above the chorus of blind hatred.

I wonder how long it can last. I wonder how long before someone takes these blind political zealots to task. For the sake of the future of this great state, I hope that day comes very, very soon.

Unnecessary Complications: Absolutely Horrible Customer Support from FYE.com

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Sometimes these “unnecessary complications” entries write themselves. Seriously. For example, I think you’ll enjoy reading this ridiculous situation that I experienced with the online arm of my friends at F.Y.E. I stress that this experience took place with the FYE.com website because I really enjoyed my interactions with the folks employed at the physical F.Y.E. store.

FYE.com Has Horrible Customer Service

A brief background before I share the e-mail exchange with FYE.com’s customer service… As you might already know, last year I purchased a set of season tickets to Monmouth University’s men’s basketball team. I’ve always liked basketball, but after I began attending high school I really didn’t have time to follow the sport as a fan because of playing football and wrestling. I think I went to one New Jersey Nets game with my uncle, cousins, and brothers when I was in high school (although that could have easily been when I was in grade school – I just can’t remember too clearly). Anyway, I began going to the basketball games at Monmouth and really enjoyed the whole experience. Sure, part of my enjoyment was due to the fact that I purchased great seats where I could really watch the game uninterrupted. And yes, part of my enjoyment came from the fact that, as a donor, I have access to a nice pre-game and post-game lounge area. But the truth is that I really enjoyed going to the games because I enjoyed watching the games themselves. In fact, I liked it so much that I wanted to begin watching NBA games again.

Now remember, I hadn’t regularly watched NBA games since I was in grade school and at the time I was a huge Chicago Bulls fan. Of course, I was probably a Bulls fan because when I was in grade school, Michael Jordan was destroying his competition. These days, I didn’t really feel a connection to that team so I turned to the Nets. The first thing I learned about the Nets was that they’re probably leaving New Jersey. Great. I’m not rooting for a team that is leaving the state. And what does that leave me with? Either the New York Knicks or the Philadelphia 76’ers. No thanks. I thought to myself that maybe I could find a team to root for if I had more time around the NBA and started looking into which basketball video games were popular. Not that I have time to play video games, but I thought it was a decent idea.

I did a little bit of research and it turns out that this NBA 2k11 game is supposed to be the best thing to ever grace a video game console since anything ever in the world. Or something like that… anyway, I pre-ordered the game for Nintendo Wii way back on August 31, 2010. Seems like a long time ago, right? Well, that’s the background that you need to know for my story. Oh, and you should know that the game was released for the Wii at some point last week and thus I should have had it in my hot little hands at this point.

As you might imagine, I didn’t get the game delivered to me. So, I sent the following message to FYE.com:

I’m sending this message to inquire about my order #XXXXXX. The online system shows it still listed as a pre-order and “in process.” Could you let me know when I should expect this game to be delivered to my home?

FYE.com sent me the following response which, I have to admit, reads like it was written by a robot. Take a look at this:

We appreciate your recent order.

Unfortunately, the item ordered is currently out of stock. We have placed this item on back order and expect it to become available for shipment within 30 days.

We will ship the item when it becomes available.

If you wish to cancel your order, please see the cancelation instructions below.

We sincerely apologize for the delay in processing this request.

And yes, they did provide extensive cancellation instructions below this note. Well, I thought that this didn’t sound right. How could a video game that I ordered months ago not be in stock when I was a pre-order? In my mind I started thinking, “Ugh. This is going to be one of those customer service experiences that you read about on Consumerist.com and, frankly, I’m really not in the mood for this type of crap. I’m going to cancel this thing and move on with my life.” With that in mind, I wrote the following message to the folks at FYE.com:

Thank you for the update. I just have an additional question. Since I pre-ordered this item back in August, how could it possibly be out of stock for a pre-order? Isn’t that the purpose of a pre-order – to have the item in stock so that the person that placed the pre-order doesn’t have to wait for an additional 30 days?

I’m going to cancel my order, but this is pretty ridiculous in terms of serving a pre-ordering customer. Unreal.

Look, I have no reason to bow down or cow-tow to a company that clearly doesn’t give a shit about me as a customer (just wait until you read the tirade I’m getting ready to unleash on Honda in the next few days). I normally wouldn’t write that last sentence and the “Unreal” comment, but FYE.com really had it coming to them with their robotic response and completely unacceptable additional 30 day delay. To their credit, I guess, they responded within 24 hours with this message:

Thank you for contacting the fye.com Customer Assistance Center

Please log into your account online or contact us at 800-818-1941, option 7, to submit a cancellation request.

That was it. Nothing else. No direct answer to any of my questions or an explanation of what was going on. By the time I received this absolute joke of a customer service response, I had already canceled my order. But this was pretty damn insulting and it led me to share my experiences with you fine folks. The lesson that I learned here is three-fold. First, FYE.com’s customer service absolutely sucks. They either have you talking to robots or people who act like robots. Listen up, FYE.com: when a customer asks a question – no matter how rude you think that question may be – you respond to that question. Second, FYE.com clearly doesn’t care about my business and thus, I’m not giving it to them. I happen to have a small credit over at GameStop and I’ll be going to their website to spend my money now. And third, FYE.com sucks when compared to the folks in their brick and mortar store.

What a shame. I wanted to like shopping at FYE.com but, instead, found it to be an annoying, aggravating experience. For shame, FYE.com. For shame.

Unnecessary Complications: An Uneven Heating and Cooling System

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This will be a short, quick “unnecessary complications” entry. What’s bothering me today is the fact that the townhouse where I rent is controlled by a one zone heating/cooling system. What does that mean or why is it a problem, you ask? In short, it means that the heating and cooling system in this townhouse is controlled by one thermostat panel. That panel is located on the first floor of the townhouse near the rear of the unit – which happens to be near the heating and cooling device. In other words, the cool air tends to stay downstairs telling the thermostat that it’s cooler throughout the entire townhouse than it really is – especially upstairs!

Very frustrating and very annoying. This place needs a lot of things (much better weatherproofing leads the pack), but right now it needs a dual zone heating and cooling system so that we can keep the temperature downstairs at around 75 degrees while we decrease the temperature upstairs to make this place more comfortable.

And while this may not be the type of “unnecessary complications” entry that you’re used to, I’m pissed off that it’s warm in my bedroom. I just took a shower and I’m sweating again already, damn it!

Unnecessary Complications: Dude, Be Aware of What’s Going on and Shut Up!

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Since you’ve all been reading this blog each and every day, you know that I’ve been engaged in a lot of activities lately. I’ve been working my day job, running my website company, volunteering to my fraternity’s foundation, teaching classes at two different colleges, and even taking a class in a graduate program. Well, in honor of the class that I was enrolled in coming to an end (and me obviously scoring an “A” for the term), I thought I’d bring you another serving of unnecessary complications derived from my time as a graduate student over the last semester.

This time around I’m pretty aggravated about this old guy that was in my class. Generally, I have no issue with old people enrolling in graduate courses – in fact, I encourage it! I hope to still be taking classes when I’m older. Why not? Who doesn’t love learning new stuff?

However, when I eventually take classes as an older guy, I have no intention of acting like this lunatic that was in my class this semester. This guy came off like a bumbling buffoon of an idiot with almost every comment he offered in the class.

You may remember that the last time I wrote one of these unnecessary complications diatribes I focused on an idiot girl in this same class. One of her major problems (aside from not being prepared for graduate study) was that she couldn’t properly communicate and she was enrolled in a communications program. Well, this guy has the same problem. Yet again I’m baffled by the severe lack of communication skills that the old guy in my class had. Frankly, I’m beginning to wonder about the level of rigor put into the application review for this program. Good Lord – it’s like they’ll let anyone in!

But here is an old guy who is enrolled in a communications-based program and he wouldn’t give presentations in front of the class. I repeat: he wouldn’t give presentations in front of the class! Meanwhile, his day job was working in a production studio teaching new hires for a local television channel how to operate the machinery and create graphics for the various screens. The guy worked as a presenter and instructor all day and he didn’t want to present or instruct for class assignments. What the heck type of sense does that make!?

Yet, that’s not the most aggravating part of this guy. No. In fact, what really bothered me about him was his obstinate attitude.

I remember one night when the Professor wanted to let everyone go 30 minutes early. We specifically didn’t take our regular “break” in what was a 3 hour class because we wanted to get out early. And just when the Professor was getting us ready to pack up and leave, this old asshole kept speaking and asking questions. Now, as an Adjunct Professor I would never discourage the continuation of a class discussion. However, as a guy with some common sense, I would have held my questions until after the class ended. Further, I would have asked questions that had some meaning. This guy extended our class by an additional 20 minutes (i.e. we only got out 10 minutes early) because he was asking about how the online message board system worked.

Seriously.

This guy kept us an extra 20 minutes because he wanted to talk about the finer points of an online message board! And what’s even more annoying is that the questions that he was asking were basic, easy to answer questions that had nothing to do with our topic of study. But still, the idiot felt the need to constantly repeat that he’s a cynic and he likes playing devil’s advocate. For what?! What exactly are you f’ing advocating for when you’re talking about whether or not an online submission gets to its final destination?! Honestly – what are you talking about you f’ing idiot?

This guy was a moron and I’m so glad that I don’t have to be in class with him any more. Idiot.