I just wanted to defend the OP a little bit and say that, at least in my state, one reason you’d stop with an AA if you wanted to work at a daycare is that you would not get *hired* with a higher degree. Education is weird like that. I have a friend who has a Ph.D. in a science field (we are desperate for science teachers here) and who decided she wanted to teach high school. She went back to school to get the education credits she needed, got certified, had awesome recommendations from her student teaching, had three interviews, and…no job. Why? She was “overqualified.” It’s ridiculous, but there you have it.

So there ARE reasons, other than snobbery, to make that statement.

As for class participation, most of my colleagues make it a small portion of the grade. It’s mainly an incentive for them to avoid distracting behaviors–showing up late, talking/texting, etc., and to reward those who participate. Participation can mean many things in our classes–for some faculty, it means just listening actively. In my classes, you won’t really be harmed for lack of participation, but if you are on the border of the next-higher grade, I might bump you up if you’ve contributed to the class.

Ok, that’s all.

It was more than obvious that you hold yourself above those who’ve chosen the career path of early childhood education, and no, I’m not one of them, but I object to your arrogance. Just that teaching the youngest is just as important as teaching the about-to-head-off-into-the-worlds and final educators are no more important than the first educators…so get over yourself, Prof I’mallthat.

“Show me that you actually care about what you write, that you make the effort to meet the deadlines, work on extensive revisions for your papers, show up to class and be prepared to participate in class discussions. If I wanted to run a day care, I would have stopped with an Associates degree.”

You clearly said that if your students didn’t care to apply themselves they may as well be children and you may as well be a babysitter.
That slacking students are, in effect, wasting the time you spent obtaining your advanced degree…for which I commend you BTW, just don’t think it MAKES you…it doesn’t.

No way to know your true intentions by reading your words on the internet unless you can articulate your meaning clearly. Your comments reminded me of far too many arrogant Profs, and you ended by insulting some really hardworking people. I don’t need to know you or your true intentions to know you’re a stuck-up prig on that particular front.
Not to worry, you’re not alone so don’t take that too personally. Just something that happens to some people once they think they’ve “made it”.

Noticed how you addressed the least of what I had to say though.

Clever diversion. But not fooling anyone, because the core of what I had to say was about the value of class participation and its validity as a grading point of any sort. What does it measure, if anything, about what a student has learned about the subject matter being taught? How does NOT speaking in class show a LACK of comprehension? Show proof of that and I will bow to you.

Answer those questions satisfactorily, and I will concede with bells on, there was nothing “unrelenting” about my singular response to your post, but I honestly don’t think students should have class participation as a part of their grade. You can use it when they ask you for a recommendation for a job, but not to measure how well they mastered the subject you were asked to teach them. I don’t think you should use an invalid measure in the grading process. There are far too many other reasons to explain lack of participation other than lack of comprehension of the subject matter. Maybe the kid (young person) stutters. Maybe the kid is afraid of confrontation. Maybe the kid is afraid of being stereotyped as a know-it-all or a dumbass. Maybe the kid would just rather not be very vocal.
Class participation is much more a measure of a student’s personality than of their subject knowledge, and grades should not be personality-based. Where’s the logic in giving a “C” student a “B” because of a large amount of class participation (ooh, you get an extra 5 points for speaking out), and giving an “A” student a “B” because of a lack of class participation (aw, didn’t hear from you this semester, that’s going to cost you 5 points)? It’s about LEARNING, not social skills (unless it’s a class about learning social skills). Is that so hard?

I know you can focus on the point of a matter, because you have more than an Associates degree (or maybe you got extra points for class participation to push you over the top).

Grading of your response?:

Addressing key points…F
Participation in discussion…A

Cumulative grade: C

And just because I’ve seen it too often and have been waiting for years to say it:

“You can do better work.” For example, address the “Socratic Method”

Maybe people who want to run day cares have just always aspired to care for small children. Call it a calling, but some are probably Mensa members.

And no, I may not have wanted to participate in discussions in your class…maybe I was shy and sucked at public speaking, but wrote excellent papers and aced all of your exams (filling my Bluebook with pearls of wisdom and insight), proving that I’d learned the course of study.

No “A” grade for learning all of what you teach just because I did so in silence? Dumb…because I attended school to learn, not teach. Paid tuition so you could talk and I could listen to you. Learn what you have to offer (because you are better educated than your students, but not necessarily more intelligent than they are despite their current lack of advanced degrees), not to listen to the other students, whom I think we’re safe in assuming have less understanding of and knowledge about your subject matter than you have. Besides, I could listen to and debate with their crap in the student center or cafeteria for free.

Socrates had all day, you have far less time with your students than he.
I’m oh so glad “Class Participation” wasn’t part of the grading process when I went to school.

if only students all around the world realized that…

I think the main problem is the lack of accountability. They think it’s ok to slack off. Yeah, sure, it’s ok…if you want an F. You want a good grade in my class? Show me that you actually care about what you write, that you make the effort to meet the deadlines, work on extensive revisions for your papers, show up to class and be prepared to participate in class discussions. If I wanted to run a day care, I would have stopped with an Associates degree.

I think he would do this.

What’s funny is that ONCE AGAIN – it’s on the syllabus! And where is the syllabus? Online. They check their grades daily and yet don’t bother to check the syllabus!