Student contrasts

I think I had the perfect contrast between good students and bad students in microcosm today.

My students entered my class late this afternoon with ham-acted "I want to die" statements. When I asked for why they were so universally wishing for death, they said they had too much work in their previous class.

Them: "We had to write 70 words in 45 minutes."

Me: boggles

Me: "That's less than two words per minute. Come crying to me when you're told to write 500."

Them: "But English is your native language."

Me: "OK, I'll do it in German, then, if you like. Or even French."

Them: boggle

They were really not happy when I gave them an exercise (pre-planned! I swear!) in which they had to ad-lib a speech that worked out to roughly 300-450 words....

Now in this class I have a "guest". He's a student in another program (computer technician) who has decided he needs to improve his English skills so he sits in on my classes when he's got free periods. He also talks with me as I go home after class to help practice. Today, on the way home, he mentioned that he had been finding his classes very difficult this term to the point of wanting to give up. As I was about to encourage him he blithely continued, explaining that this had changed after he went to the library and studied some supplemental material that was easier to understand than what the teacher was giving in class.

And that, in a microcosm, is the difference.

Poor students only go to class and bitch and moan about doing even miniscule amounts of work. They don't do any work outside of the classroom unless forced to (and then usually cheat anyway, thus invalidating the whole point of self-study).

Good students, when faced with adversity, work harder to learn by taking extra classes, spending extra time studying, finding other sources of information, etc.