Overly Dependent Students
I work in a computer lab on campus - helping students out with various computer projects and problems that they have when dealing with these projects. It's a fun job for the most part and has helped me learn a lot. Because of this job I now know about HTML, and actually know the ins and outs of Microsoft Word, and believe you me, there are a lot of those when dealing with that pain-in-the-butt program and its auto-word corrects, and auto-saves and auto-bulleting and auto-erasing of things you just typed. But the one thing, the absolute ONE thing that I really truly hate at this job - is when students think that the purpose of the computer lab assistants, is to be Slaves to the Students.
Most of the people that come in and use the computer lab are respectful. They come and use your help for computer problems, or they come and ask for assistance when the instructor provided outdated instructions showing how to burn CDs using outdated software from 1994. Then there are the minority of students, the ones who never do their own work.
This one person would come into the lab every week, on the exact same day, and around the exact same time just like clockwork,and then they would say to me and my coworker, "Hey guys! It's time for web pages today!" Or "Hey guys! We're going to be having fun with Excel!", and then they would proceed to ask us for help with every problem on their homework.
For most students you would show them how to work on something for a few minutes, and then let them at least try to figure it out, and they do pretty well with it. But this person couldn't figure out anything - it was like they were a helpless baby. They were a business student, and they asked me to show them how to write flow charts - and here I am - open major - never written a flow chart in my life except for maybe in 6th grade, and I'm showing a business student how to write a flow chart.
Frankly if I were to have my way these students would never get a degree and instead their degree would go to the people that earned it for them: the Lab Assistants.
Oh well - what can you do, except laugh maniacally at the thought that when they get out in the real world they'll get their come uppance when they can't do any work their boss asks them to do?
Most of the people that come in and use the computer lab are respectful. They come and use your help for computer problems, or they come and ask for assistance when the instructor provided outdated instructions showing how to burn CDs using outdated software from 1994. Then there are the minority of students, the ones who never do their own work.
This one person would come into the lab every week, on the exact same day, and around the exact same time just like clockwork,and then they would say to me and my coworker, "Hey guys! It's time for web pages today!" Or "Hey guys! We're going to be having fun with Excel!", and then they would proceed to ask us for help with every problem on their homework.
For most students you would show them how to work on something for a few minutes, and then let them at least try to figure it out, and they do pretty well with it. But this person couldn't figure out anything - it was like they were a helpless baby. They were a business student, and they asked me to show them how to write flow charts - and here I am - open major - never written a flow chart in my life except for maybe in 6th grade, and I'm showing a business student how to write a flow chart.
Frankly if I were to have my way these students would never get a degree and instead their degree would go to the people that earned it for them: the Lab Assistants.
Oh well - what can you do, except laugh maniacally at the thought that when they get out in the real world they'll get their come uppance when they can't do any work their boss asks them to do?
posted by CT at 9:14 PM
2 Comments:
start charging. they'll figure out how to do it on their own if they have to pay for excessive help.
Oh. He does. That used to be a near-daily conversation with he and I.
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