Student POV – Wrong Answers Only
- No Comments
- Module: Care and Equity
In the space below, brainstorm the MOST restrictive, oppressive course policies you can imagine. You can choose to frame these around a course you teach, or you can just come up with a list that could apply to any courses. Be as heavy-handed and authoritarian as you like; it’s okay if the rules you write make you uncomfortable.
Oppressive Course Policies
- Students are allowed 1 excused absence, each absence beyond 1 (excused or unexcused) removes 5% off your final grade. No make up opportunities will be given, no excuses will be tolerated.
- Class starts promptly at 8 am, please plan on arriving 10 minutes before to settle in. The door will lock at 8:01 am and anyone who is not in the classroom will be marked absent.
- If you leave class early for any reason that is a partial absence and I will remove 2% off your final grade.
- All students are to sit quietly at their desks and not speak unless I call on you or when it is a designated discussion time.
- In this classroom there are banned words, anything I hear that is annoying off of Tik Tok or the rest of the internet is going up on the board. If you say any of these banned words I will remove 1% off your final grade. Examples: 6-7, chat, skibidi, no cap, shook, slay, etc.
- No cell phone or smart watch use in this classroom for any reason. If any of your devices make a noise in class I will remove 1% off your final grade.
- Assignments will not be accepted if they are not in APA format 7th edition, Times New Roman 12 point font, double spaced. You will receive a 0 and cannot resubmit it with proper formatting.
- If your paper is AI generated, if any resources are missing, or if any citations are incorrect, I consider that to be plagiarism and will immediately report the incident to the Office of Academic Integrity.
Oppressive Course Policies Reflection
It was easy to think of wacky unrealistic rules, but for this exercise I chose to pull from real policies that I have experienced as a student. Of course, many of these rules were from totally different professors and even different colleges. I was upset while re-writing them and remembering how it felt to be in those classes. These oppressive policies view the student as the antagonist, and anticipates their downfall. They feel like war is being waged before day 1 has even taken place, blame and judgement are already being passed onto the student.
Referring back to the rules you wrote, now write the OPPOSITE of each of them in the space below. Reframe each rule by imagining what it would be if you tried to completely counteract its purpose.
Rewritten Course Policies
- Students are allowed 2 excused absences, beyond 2 I ask that you make it up by attending an on campus event and documenting your experience on Canvas. Try to stay in communication with me so we can get you caught up. If you are absent and never reach out to me, that will be counted as unexcused. Once you have had 3 unexcused absences we will need to meet during office hours to discuss next steps.
- Class starts at 8 am, I know this is very early for many of you so we will have a “soft start” at that time with some warm-up games. Class will officially begin at 8:30 am. Even if you miss a large portion of class that is okay, but please stay after so we can get you caught up right away.
- Emergencies happen, if you need to leave class early you may do so without my permission, take care of yourself.
- This is your classroom as much as it is mine. If you would like to stand, sit on the floor, pace around in the back, fidget, be my guest. There will be plenty of nice days where we can also hold class outside. Topic related questions and discussions are highly encouraged, even when it may not be a designated discussion time.
- I will not censor your ideas, but as a class it is expected that we stay mindful and care for our fellow classmates. On the first day of class, we will come up with a set of rules together to guide our discussions in a healthy way.
- Please keep your cell phones, smart watches, and devices on silent / vibrate mode. If you need to take a call, all I ask is that you step outside for it. If you need to text in class to handle a situation that is okay, just let me know before or after class that you have something going on. (No specifics needed!)
- Assignments should be submitted in APA format 7th edition, Times New Roman 12 point font, double spaced. If you submit an assignment with incorrect formatting, I will ask you to fix it and will only remove a few points on the assignment according to the rubric. You can always go to the Writing Center in Lamson if you need help with your paper, or you can visit me during my office hours.
- If resources are missing or citations are listed incorrectly, I will ask you to fix it and again will only remove a few points on the assignment according to the rubric. If resources are consistently missing, or if your paper is AI generated, I will ask you to meet with me during my office hours to discuss next steps.
Rewritten Course Policies Reflection
Many of these rewritten policies were used by some of my favorite professors ever. A couple of them I put into words, but they were just a general understanding like “if you need to leave, then leave, you’re an adult and can make your own decisions”. I remember one course that was covering some heavy / triggering topics and the professor would remind us that we could leave at any time, no judgement, no questions. Plenty of us had to leave early for other reasons, so you would never know if someone was leaving because they were bothered by the subject, or if they were leaving to pick up their kid from day care. This set of rules stresses communication, use office hours, send an email, reach out somehow! Students aren’t expected to say exactly what is going on, just to say that something is going on, and that’s enough.
I had trouble re-phrasing number 5 in my revised rules, because discussions involving difficult topics can indeed get out of hand. If anyone has suggestions on how I could edit my rule number 5 that would be welcome.
Reflect upon the experience of writing both sets. How did writing these rules make you feel? How were the two experiences different? In your own courses, are your policies more like one set or the other? Put yourself in the shoes of a student again, and re-read the rules. How do they feel now?
