Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

My tactic with newspaper people (and sleepers) is to walk over and lecture next to/behind them (and even pretend to read the paper whilst I talk.  This is pretty effective.

Of course, I have been known to lock to doors to classrooms when students have been perennially late and further occasionally kick whole classes out for failure to read (which, if used sparingly, actually has the desired effect).

One suspects that the Depends remark may have backfired due to its potentially personal nature.

I do see the consumerism issue cropping up on occasion, but mostly in the courses I teach online.

Many years ago I threw an entire managerial class out of classroom. Apparently 8:30 am was a little too early for the sleepy and nearly comatose.

I made it clear that there would be a full test regardless of how much class time they wasted.

The next session was markedly improved. The course finished very well.

I once had a prof testily demand that a late arrival sit up front instead of in the bank, then proceeded to grill the late arrival, Socratic style, for several minutes, even when it was obvious the student’s first language was not English.

Based on my conversations with my classmates, I can say with some confidence that that prof got the worst evaluations of any prof I had in law school. 

Those kinds of tactics make it way too easy to come across as a petty, vindictive tyrant who needs to be reminded who pays his salary.

One of my first year professors responded to a somewhat idiotic question: “That’s like asking me to compare a buffalo to an orange.” It got a big laugh, but he ended up apologizing in a later class.  I thought it was funny, though.

Long ago when I was an undergrad, a student fell asleep in the front row of a 3:00 pm Friday lecture, the last of the day in that room. Someone pointed at him, the professor nodded and put her finger to her lips, grinned, and continued lecturing. At the end of the hour she asked the class to file out quietly, turned off the lights, and carefuly closed the door, leaving him sleeping in his chair.

Those kinds of tactics make it way too easy to come across as a petty, vindictive tyrant who needs to be reminded who pays his salary.

And the consumer notion rears its head…

(Not, by the way, that I condone embarrassing people who can’t speak English).

However, I would note, that students being tardy on a regular basis is not just problematic for the professor, but rather is often disruptive for the other students.

My first-year Civil Procedure professor (Gus Hodges at The University of Texas) would say “You’re excused” if you were unprepared when he called on you.  That meant you needed to pack up and leave the remainder of that day’s class.  I don’t know what it did for his student evaluations, but I was always prepared.

Last semester, I got some of the worst evals of my career.  I attribute it to being tired and sick (pneumonia) for about a month and a half.  And when I get tired, I get a bit sarcastic and harsh.  I teach the same content (and in the same way), but the demeanor changes. And that apparently makes all the difference.

Ironically, just last year I’d read Boice’s book “Advice For New Faculty” (recommended to all faculty, not just new ones).  In it, he spends a lot of time on the topic of incivility.  However, most of his attention is not on STUDENT incivility, but on FACULTY incivility (what seem like minor things such as coming to class late, sarcastic comments, etc...).

Students can easily see when you care about them and the quality of your teaching.  Of the two, the first is probably more important to them than the second.  If they think you care, you can get away with anything.  If they think you don’t, they forgive you NOTHING. And surprisingly, little things matter a lot.

In fact, if they know you care, you get a lot more leeway in giving the occasional smackdown.  My favorite technique for students like the one in Munger’s class is to simply stop talking (sometimes in the middle of a sentence) and stare (not glare, but steadily stare) at the offending student.  The class gets quiet very quickly.  Then, once the offender notices, stay silent and keep looking at them (silently) for another count of ten or so.  Don’t start the count until they’ve acknowledged.  Believe me - to them, it’ll seem like an eternity. 

Then just go on with class. 

As an alternate strategy, I’ll sometimes finish (after the ten count) with a look of amazement and say, “Wow. That’s really rude.” If you do it in a quiet tone, it comes across like you’re simply amazed t the total lack of civilized living skills on the part of the offender.  You don’t slam them, and it’s not harsh.  But it drives the point home nonetheless.

"Millenials have more of a tendency to see themselves as consumers of education; at the same time, many feel under enormous pressure to succeed. This may make them more demanding than previous generations of students.”

I think this is less a function of generation than one of economic interest.  The cost of going to school, especially professional school, has increased at an exponential rate.  The higher the cost, the more interested the consumer becomes.

If a person paid $5K for a car, they would be more forgiving of faults, but if they spend $50K for a car, they are going to expect perfection.  This is the same way with law schools.  If a student in going into debt, then he will be less tolerate of law schools that don’t address his needs.

All I can say is hold on… as costs rise, students will become more vocal about things, inside and outside the classroom.

"tolerant” not “tolerate”