yea, about that meme...
Around this time there’s a lot of advice going around to people starting grad school, and this post has become popular:
Obviously, some of you may scream #notallmen but I say #stillmorelikelytobemakebehavior. This may be empowering, but actually it makes me think that this is a problem for the professor in the room who should be shutting this shit down instead of other students having to endure it. Graduate school is about resilience, but those in charge have an obligation to mitigate a lot of the bullshit. So, here’s advice for faculty working with graduate students:
If one person keeps talking, for the love of god, shut it down. Literally say, “I’d like to give other people a chance to comment.” It’s your class.
When someone starts pulling out fancy language or theorists, either tell them to relate to the material at hand, or even say, “for those of us not familiar with [x] can you give us a brief explanation?” This will either shut them down (good) or bring the rest of the class up to speed (good).
Don’t grade on how much someone speaks in a seminar. You are just setting yourself up for lots of the first item on this list.
DO NOT in any way insinuate that attendance is required at all costs. This is ableist and does not consider people who are caregivers. Yes, if we miss a lot of classes we will not do well. But people get sick. Life happens.
Don’t just expect to assign a reading and have us structure our own conversation around it. It’s frustrating and graduate students could still have structure. Having planned questions or exercises is still welcome.
Fuck off if you never answer email. It’s the bare minimum of decency.
Don’t be afraid to direct people back to the text if the class becomes too much of a personal sharing time or it is obvious someone didn’t do the reading. ESPECIALLY if someone didn’t do the reading and they are taking time away by purposefully talking about anything else but the reading.
Don’t you dare keep us past scheduled class time. Especially if it’s a night class.
Just because you suffered in graduate school doesn’t mean we have to suffer. Pain does not build character. Martyrdom should not be rewarded.
Please don’t be barefoot during class.
Not all contributions are equal. Not everyone is correct. Don’t be a dick about it when you point that out though.
You can tell people not to look at their phones during class. When someone does it it’s distracting to everyone.
If you get pleasure out of making graduate students suffer and feel superior to you, please request a long sabbatical or early retirement.
Don’t let the class turn into group therapy. Checking in and being personable is nice, but we are not here to do the emotional work for someone.
Don’t be insulted if someone doesn’t want the homemade banana bread you brought in. Don’t push someone to eat anything anytime. Also, bringing in snacks won’t make us like you more. It’s not a shortcut for bad planning and organization.
You will know very quickly who the “problem” one in the cohort is. Use that knowledge for good rather than evil.