Then again, sometimes the students are stupid

Allow me to share a few anecdotes.

Yesterday was the final exam in my speech class. It was the first test I have ever given a curve for - the grades were just low. Which I feel is partially my fault - I asked about some things that were in the reading but I didn't cover very well in class. The hard-ass in me wants to say "If it was assigned you are responsible" - but the realist in me knows that of all the things my kids have to do when they are taking summer school, and often working at the same time, reading the enthralling prose of Stephen Lucas and his introduction to the art of public speaking does not rank high on the list of priorities. I'm okay with that - truth be told I just taught a full summer session never having opened a copy (because I don't have one) of the edition of the textbook I assigned. The first time I even saw a copy was when I was writing the exam. Yeah - my pedagogy rocks.

But I digress.

So let me share with you the first question on the test:

1. A good speaker will avoid ethnocentrism.

What is the meaning of the word in italics?

A) Only appealing to white people

B) Stereotyping

C) Learned behavior

D) The belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to others.

E) All of the above

You, dear reader, will know immediately that the answer is "D". How do you know? Because you are pretty damned smart and know that a few of those answers are nonsense and only one is even responsive. BUT I got a complaint that this question was entirely unfair. Now - I am all for discussing questionable test questions. On many occasions I have decided that a student had a viable argument so I gave them credit. This was not one of those instances. "Ethnocentrism" was a vocabulary word and I just copied the definition out of the book. Period. No questions. Even a cursory glance at chapter one and you would have probably noticed the highlighted words that are then defined specifically in the margins. This is not rocket science.

But still a student stayed after to complain. Apparently it is unfair for me to put the definition of the word AND possible examples or outcomes. How are they supposed to know the actual answer from the book from possible outcomes of that quality? Said student began to explain that stereotyping IS the same thing as ethnocentrism, making that question null and void. To which I responded "All Chinese people are good at math." God I would have loved a camera for that.

"What?" he says.

"I am a white person. If I announce all Chinese people are good at math, am I stereotyping?"

"Well, yes."

"In my stereotyping did I announce white people are superior?"

"No."

"So what does that tell you?" I asked. And he mumbled something about still being unfair and moved on to his next complaint. But by far my favorite moment was his proclamation that question # 50 was also unfair. The question: What is your instructor's name? And mind you, this is multiple choice.

He claims this is also unfair, because since I sign most epistles with just my initials how should he know what my actual name is? To which I responded "Did you even read the test? I only gave you five hints." Because in every question that was anecdotal or requires some application I used MY NAME. Still - clearly unfair. How on earth could a student be expected to know the name of his teacher? So much for a gimme.