Have you ever sat in a class and thought to yourself, "I must be the dumbest person in this entire college?" Have you ever tried to write a paper, knowing that you will get absolutely no feedback on your work, other than a grade that is probably lower than you expected?
Okay, maybe it's just me, but sometimes I feel like everyone is smarter than I am and that I have absolutely no clue when it comes to academia. No, I don't have horrible grades; no, I'm not flunking any classes; and no, I haven't had any classes I hated.
However, I am upset. I am upset because I have now been a student at Dartmouth for two whole years and not once has a professor given me praise. Not one professor has told me I wrote a good paper, had valuable insight, made some kind of contribution to class. NONE!
In the book Women's Ways of Knowing, the authors explain that "even highly competent girls and womenunderestimate their abilities," and the findings indicate that while high school teachers "doled out constant praise," college professors are "silent." (Belenky, 196) Reading those few sentences really struck a chord inside of me. Women cannot possibly be the only ones who need praise to feel that their ideas have worth! Men need to hear it, too.
So maybe I should stop complaining and look inside myself to find some assurance that my knowledge has worth on an academic level. We all know how difficult that can be, though. Most of us have taken an exam in which we were sure we flunked. We've written papers while not having any clue what to write. Then we get these exams and papers back with a simple grade, without any comments, even when we've done very well!
I suppose I'm mostly referring to classes outside of "hard-core" sciences. My friends in chemistry classes probably know what they do wrong and why they make mistakes in their calculations, and subsequently they know when they get all the right answers. However, the social sciences and the humanities do not work that way. We "humanities" students depend on subjective evaluations by our professors to determine the worth of our thoughts (because there is rarely one "right answer"); therefore, feedback is not only welcome, but it is necessary.
You may think I'm just being whiny, but who doesn't enjoy a compliment here and there? I would love, just once, for a professor to tell me that my presence in his or her class was valuable. As I move through college and begin to do "research" on my own, I must know that my work and my opinions are worthwhile. I must know that I am a capable student, with ideas that matter to someone. While I can tell myself I'm wonderful until I'm blue in the face, is it really that difficult for professors to help out a little bit?
Here's my plea to each and every professor at Dartmouth College -- PLEASE TELL YOUR STUDENTS WHEN THEIR CONTRIBUTION IN CLASS HAS BEEN OF VALUE! ENGAGE IN DIALOGUE WITH YOUR STUDENTS, AND INFORM THEM THAT THEIR THOUGHTS MATTER! I think if we can all be a little bit more confident in our abilities as "knowers" as well as "receivers of knowledge," this college would be a much happier place to be. And maybe I wouldn't feel like I'm the "dumbest girl at Dartmouth."
