Teaching in Aggieland: Fairness and Bias in the Classroom

Sphere: Related Content Sometimes, I have a really hard time being "fair" to my students.

I know, it's a shock, but teachers are actually PEOPLE. We have biases, subjectivities, and pre-dispositions.

Let me give you an example: One student emailed me that she had to miss class because her son is sick. She is a student, has a job, a son, is in the reserves, and has a husband who is currently deployed to Afghanistan. When a child is sick, you can't take him/her to daycare, so she has no choice but to stay home with him. Technically, this isn't a university excused absence. If she went to a doctor and got a note, I could submit that documentation and it would satisfy my superior. But there's no way on earth I'm about to email this woman and tell her she has to go to the dr., if she can get an appointment, and likely maker her pay a co-pay, so she can verify that her son does indeed have a cold and needs to stay home. Could she be taking advantage of me? Certainly.

Let me give you another example.

A student missed two class periods because of her sister's wedding. Students in the small course I teach are allowed 3 unexcused absences (if you knew what class you'd understand why the req't). So, naturally, when she informed me that she would be missing the next two classes b/c of sis' wedding, I said "ok cool, have fun, turn your assignment in before you leave." Upon her return, she brought me a copy of the wedding invitation. "Oh, I don't need this" I remarked and handed it back to her. "It's not excused, so I don't need documentation." It is NOT university, department, or course policy to excuse people for weddings. I'm doing what I'm told.

Long story short, student throws a tantrum in an email to my boss. She says that not excusing the absence is like me telling her that her sister's wedding isn't important. Seriously the email is like 5 paragraphs long. Keep in mind, she hasn't actually talked to ME about any of this. Boss forwards me the email, and suggests I excuse one of the two absences and I take her advice.

Can I just say, the University DOES think your sister's wedding is important, that's why you can miss 3 times, no questions asked. And if you are out of sick/vacation days at a job, you can't appeal your boss' decision to not let you off by whining to that person's boss. Bad idea.

One more example: I have another student who receives a letter from the athletic department excusing him of classes to clean and prepare equipment for the football team. And I have to accept it as an excused absence.

As these stories illustrate, the University's policies regarding absences are gendered. That is, they cater to the male student population. I would argue that both males and females would benefit from a parent absence leave policy. But I digress. I was telling you how biased I am.

So, you can see, in the first story, I had no trouble excusing the absence without documentation. In the second, I followed policy and was not rewarded. In the third, I followed policy even though I vehemently disagree with it.

And there we have it, the truth, pure and simple: I am biased. And easily persuaded by good stories.

Sometimes I think I favor racial or ethnic minorities in the classroom. I can't help it, as much as I try.

Women and latinos and blacks and immigrants spent SO LONG outside of the classroom looking in, I want to encourage them to succeed as much as possible. If you have a child, or share a car with your family, or work full-time, you're going to get more compassion from me when things come up. I expect a lot from my students, and if you work 10 hours a week and someone else (e.g. parents) are footing your bill for college, apartment, keggers, football tickets, books, etc., I expect that you manage your time effectively. You are privileged. That includes the athletes in class, some of which do, and some complain non-stop about how busy they are. When they do, I want to tell them to get a grip and spend a day in the first woman's shoes.

*Note: Ms. Litia is a pseudonym. It stands for liberal-teaching-in-aggieland. Mostly because I want to be honest and I don’t want to lose my job.