Why I like students

[robinturner]

A lot of teachers really don't like students. In the case of primary and secondary education, this is pathological (why work with kids if you hate them?) but in the case of universities it is simply the result of recruiting staff on the basis of their research rather than their willingness or ability to teach. most of the bitter souls who make comments like "the campus is so nice when there aren't any students around" are just mild, introverted types who produced groundbreaking PhD theses largely because they were so isolated from the rest of the human race, and then find to their horror that a corollary of their research position is that they have to teach classes of restless undergraduates.

Personally, I like students. I don't go for the Miss Jean Brodie vicarious parent stuff, but I do feel privileged to play a part, no matter how small, in people's personal and intellectual development. Students also have a number of advantages over the general populace.

• With a few exceptions, they are fairly bright; in fact, some of them provide me with useful reminders that I am not at the top of the gene pool.
• On the whole, they behave extremely civilly to me. Sometimes this is merely rational self-interest, since I am the one giving them grades, but most of the time they seem to have a respect for intellectual achievement - even such modest achievement as mine - which is sadly lacking in the general public.
• While many laugh at the idealism of youth, I find it touching.
• Some of them are actually interested in the course material.
• Sometimes they give me CDs.
• When they have personal problems, they come and see me in my office hours, listen carefully to my advice, thank me, and go away. If all the other people in my life would adopt the same procedure, I would be a happy man.