Crunch time at the shop

It's the end of November, which, in the academic world, means it's crunch time. Time to feel the burn, and the stress. Time to look in the mirror and see if you can do it. Time to suck it up and get things done. The crunch applies to faculty and students alike, but the problem is particularly acute for those twenty-somethings who have been thrust into higher education, often with limits to their motivation and their skill set. And sometimes, it's not a pretty sight.

Now that I've been an educator for nearly four decades, I've seen amazingly bright and competent students and amazingly dull and overwhelmed ones. As I occasionally tell my students, Western Civilization is not a piece of cake: one must learn to manage an incredible array of demands, skills, and tasks, with a heavy emphasis on being productive. And as I also tell them, there are indeed other options, including a simple life of hunting and gathering on some remote island in the south seas, where things like algebra, philosophy, and research methods are largely irrelevant. But, since the south seas option is not on their mental radar, they try to plug along and survive in the modern and fairly neurotic world of 2010.

As in a war, some soldiers go through the campaign with flying colors, to a heroes' welcome. But others are wounded in battle, and they limp and stumble to the end. Still others go AWOL, perhaps thinking that if no one sees them, they won't have to deal with things. And some die a quiet academic death, casualties of a system that simply grinds them down and removes their will to survive.

About this time of year, I say a quiet prayer for all of these people. I don't want them to be maimed or shamed or bruised, but I do have to stretch them and challenge them. Unfortunately, some of them can only be stretched a little bit, and despite my desire to see them succeed, I can only do my duty and submit a grade that is appropriate to what they have achieved--which, more often that we like to admit, isn't much. Almost all of them are fine people, but at crunch time, we on the other side of the desk don't always see them at their best.

On that cheery note, a happy holiday season to you all!