Thunday, July SI. 1980 The Tar Hed 9B
features
Offc hours :
Opportunity for students, professors
to get acquainted, work out problems
By Martha Johns en
The door is closed. You knock. No answer. After having
climbed five flights of stairs to see your professor, he's not
there.
Meanwhile, down the hall, a door stands open,
invitingly. A professor dutifully leaves his research at the
library and busies himself in his office, waiting. Available.
But no one comes.
There is still another door. This one is cracked open and
the sounds of two distinct voices emerge. Inside, professor
and student intently discuss a test, a paper, the weather,
their lives.
Every semester on the first day of class, the instructor
inscribes his office hours in chalk on a fresh green board.
Students busily scribble down the name, room number and
hours on the inside cover of a new spiral notebook. And for
many students that's all there is to office hours an
unaccepted invitation.
Why the unaccepted invitation?
One student sums it up this way. "Some people really
don't care they just go to class and study as little as
possible. Some people are intimidated. .Some people are
self-sufficient. Some people just don't have any questions.
"And some teachers you really don't care to see. Some
teachers discourage it, if not outright, by their attitudes in
class," she explains.
One common reason is a lack of free time. "I'm usually
. so busy," says one drama major. "But I think we're busy on
both parts."
Teaching assistants have classwork, orals, dissertations
on their minds. And professors have the demand to keep up
their research. "Pressures of teaching and writing are so
intense that teachers don't have enough hours to see
students," says an adviser and retired history professor.
Another reason is schedule conflicts. "A lot of times
office hours don't correspond with my schedule," says one
sophomore interdisciplinary major. One of her teachers
even took a survey to find out what time to establish office
hours so as not to conflict with most students' schedules,
but her schedule still conflicts. "I think that's a good idea
though," she says.
n j
M
i s
Staff photo by Sharon Clarke
Office doors in Greenlaw Hall
But there are other ways to get around schedule conflicts.
"I think the easiest thing to do is to make an
appointment," says one junior history major. Professors
often are willing to meet at times other than official office
hours if the student wants to make an appointment.
And there are ways for professors to avoid twiddling
their thumbs waiting for students to show. Many grade
papers, study, read and plan lessons. One professor in the
religion department announces to his classs that he will be
in his office during his hours only if students sign up
earlier to indicate they'll be coming.
Basically the kind of contact the teacher has with the
student in class makes the biggest difference in whether his
of fice hours are used. "The teachers I go to see are mostly
those in small classes," says one junior zoology major.
"And I usually go see a teaching assistant in one of my
large lecture courses before I'll see the professor."
Some students talk about the distance they feel between
teachers and themselves. And so do some teachers. Those
with offices on the fourth and fif th,floors of Greenlaw feel
the stairs cause a barrier to a great extent.
"I have to put the themes on my door," says an instructor
in freshman English, "or else I write 'see me about this' in
hopes they'll come."
One former department chairman attributes the barrier
to. the fact that both teachers and students tend to see each
other as one-dimensional, as not having any life outside of
class.
A teaching assistant in his department agrees. "I
remember when I was a freshman I never went to see my
instructors because I felt I was such a nerd. It's humiliating
and embarrassing and frustrating enough to be a
freshman: why voluntarily walk into someone's office to
get a dumping?
"Now that I'm the instructor, I know I'm not going to
dump on anyone or anything like that. But they don't
come," he says.
Among all the students who refuse the invitation to
come during office hours because of time, intimidation or
lack of concern, there are students who accept, willingly.
Students want to discuss tests and projects and develop
ideas. Often they want a concept clarified that they didn't
quite grasp in class. And "there are some teachers that you
just want to get to know," says one senior.
"I usually go before a test to find out what kinds of
things they're looking for. Sometimes it doesn't help at all,
except at least you know you went," says an economics
major.
Stopping by to see professors also helps to build rapport
and often provides needed references. "It's nice to know
that when I give a professor my reference sheet, he knows
more than my name and grade," says a career-bound
senior.
The faculty are also a good resource to help students
investigate careers. "Choose someone in an area that you're
interested in and say 'Can you give me some pointers?
Where do I start?' " advises another senior. "I mean who
would it be better to ask that's their field!"
Besides the academic help, career direction and
references available by taking advantage of office hours,
some students and teachers gain an added benefit.
Friendship.
"Someone just called to talk this weekend that I taught
over four years ago," says a retired history professor. "I
believe in office hours."
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