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Why do instructors ignore disruptive behavior?
Madison, Wis.—October 24— Faculty members do have the authority to respond to student misconduct in their courses, but many times, they’re reluctant to do so. Why?
A number of factors create this reluctance, said Dr. Gerald Amada during the Magna Online Seminar “Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom.”
The first reason is that instructors believe they’ll be seen as “kind, patient, and tolerant” if they leave disruptive student behavior unaddressed, said Amada, one of the founders and a former director of the Mental Health Program at the City College of San Francisco. They also sometimes hope that if ignored, the disruption will go away. But students don’t necessarily view a lack of faculty reaction in the same way, Amada said. They’re more likely to see the lack of response as passivity and they feel “encouraged and entitled” to continue the misconduct, he said.
Another reason why faculty might hesitate to address disruptive behavior is that some see disruptive students as “psychologically fragile,” Amada said. These faculty members understandably but erroneously assume that the student will become “dismantled” if held responsible for behavior that harms the learning environment. However, it is often a disturbed student who will benefit most from reasonable and consistently-applied ground rules for classroom behavior, Amada said.
During the seminar, Amada addressed different kinds of disruption, from students coming into class late to potentially dangerous situations.
If you missed this live program and would like to order a transcript or CD of the event, visit our online catalog.
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For more information please contact David Burns, Publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109, or dburns@magnapubs.com.
