hillfarm Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Today was dd's first day back after the holiday break. She mentioned that she feared she would develop eye strain. Not from reading but from rolling her eyes so much! She says that in both classes she had today there were a number of students who seemed to be competing for the professor's attention. There are a couple of boys we have known in the past who are smarmy in the extreme (love this Google definition: "ingratiating and wheedling in a way that is perceived as insincere or excessive"). What was worse, she said that in that class there was an older female student who seemed to be trying to "out-smarm" the boys. Her other class is an art history class, fairly small with only 10 students. She said they all seemed to be trying to impress the professor with how sensitive and artistic they were. She added that she had never seen such poster people for the definition of "bohemian". However, to her it seemed to be so contrived and formulaic that it actually lacked any individuality or creativity. I think it is going to be an interesting semester... Are these "apple polisher" and "look at me!" attitudes common in college classrooms these days? I don't remember it from waaaay back when I was in school, although it is possible that I was so preoccupied with other social matters that I missed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 They do not seem to be common in physics. I can recall only one or two such students in my teaching career. But then, you also can't impress your physics instructor by faking anything - gotta know your stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 People love attention and feeling superior. Encourage your DD to avoid judging the other students and focus on her work. It is sure to be a long semester, but it is a great life lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 There's a woman like that in my choir. She's in her forties. I think those people have always been around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Not that common in my classroom, but I hear from friends in the humanities that they are more common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 My son encountered one adult student in one of his community college classes who began the semester really obnoxious about talking up his own experience and skills. (It was a technical theatre class.) Within a very few weeks, though, it became clear the student was actually in way over his head. He transitioned from bragging loudly about his skills to complaining equally loudly about how hard the class was and how impossible the material was to understand. That student was in his early 30s, and he ended up needing to turn to my 15-turning-16-year-old son for help once the class got rolling. As far as I know, that's the only such experience my son has had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I remember a few students like that from my college days. I definitely remember one guy who thought he was all that and a couple of bags of chips, always raising his hand, despite being wrong about half the time, always talking to the professor like they were best friends, etc. I think we all kind of started rolling our eyes whenever he'd talk. I do also remember a few students like that in the lit and art history classes I needed for my overall requirements, particularly the early British lit one, which was like 29 English majors and me. They all seemed to want to top each other at being Very Profound. I think humanities can tend to lend itself to that sort of thing, especially, like wordiness and prevention equal something novel to say. So, yeah, I understand what your daughter is saying. Sometimes people are like that. But at the same time, I know I walked up to the professor, knowing that he was going to be my adviser for the next few years, and introduced myself the first day of class, and that personal contact was very useful to me over my college career (major of three people out of forty thousand undergrads -- if you didn't make the effort to stand out, you could easily be lost), and getting to know what he wanted to see on an essay made my life a lot less stressful. But I think it can be a fine line between standing out and coming across as smarmy and pretentious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillfarm Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 I definitely agree with making yourself known to the professor, but it seems like what she described from yesterday was definitely well over the top. I mean seriously, how do you respond to someone who says, "I was featured in the recent college brochure and I must say, my hair looked gorgeous!"? One of the boys literally brought that up in class. I'd have been rolling my eyes too. :001_rolleyes: I also think there is a difference between judging to make one feel superior and evaluating based on behavior. My personal opinion is that this young man is very self impressed, based on what he says and how he behaves. (The last time I saw him at a local football game, he was offering to sign autographs for the preteen girls.) His behavior doesn't make me feel superior, it would however, make me feel irritated if it takes up too much class time. Dd is more concerned about making a good academic impression on the professor through pertinent class participation and diligent application. This is a PSEO program at a local community college and this class is not in dd's major department. I had a wonderful personal friendship as well as academic relationship with my college advisor and I will certainly encourage dd to be sure to make herself known to her major professors when she gets to the 4-year school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I definitely agree with making yourself known to the professor, but it seems like what she described from yesterday was definitely well over the top. I mean seriously, how do you respond to someone who says, "I was featured in the recent college brochure and I must say, my hair looked gorgeous!"? One of the boys literally brought that up in class. I'd have been rolling my eyes too. :001_rolleyes: I also think there is a difference between judging to make one feel superior and evaluating based on behavior. My personal opinion is that this young man is very self impressed, based on what he says and how he behaves. (The last time I saw him at a local football game, he was offering to sign autographs for the preteen girls.) His behavior doesn't make me feel superior, it would however, make me feel irritated if it takes up too much class time. Dd is more concerned about making a good academic impression on the professor through pertinent class participation and diligent application. This is a PSEO program at a local community college and this class is not in dd's major department. I had a wonderful personal friendship as well as academic relationship with my college advisor and I will certainly encourage dd to be sure to make herself known to her major professors when she gets to the 4-year school. Obviously I wasn't there to hear tone, but the hair comment struck me as charmingly self-deprecating. There could be something simar with the autograph comment. It would depend on delivery and if there were any reason his autograph would mean anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I definitely agree with making yourself known to the professor, but it seems like what she described from yesterday was definitely well over the top. I mean seriously, how do you respond to someone who says, "I was featured in the recent college brochure and I must say, my hair looked gorgeous!"? One of the boys literally brought that up in class. I'd have been rolling my eyes too. :001_rolleyes: How did she get enrolled in classes with Gilderoy Lockhart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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