Do you trust enough to think win-win? Do you trust yourself? How about other people?
After having taught at a variety of colleges in two states for the past 12 years, I am often surprised by the perceptions of many students in my courses. I get the feeling that some students believe that education and class is a competitive process with their instructors. Simply put, us (the students) vs. them (the professor). This seems a little perplexing to me.
Some assumptions I have heard from students about the student-instructor relationship:
- The instructor is here to give me busy work
- The instructor wants people to drop out
- The instructor wants to give me a bad grade
- (Believe me, it goes on and on…)
What ever happened to the idea that we are all in this together? This journey of education could be a win-win for both the student and the professor?
My take, or my philosophy or theory about human services education is this (keep in mind these ideas are still under development and I reserve the right to change them by my retirement date of 2026!):
- I am in class for many of the same reasons that the student is in class, to continue my learning. Students teach me something every day. Carl Rogers said that his students kept him young and made him a better person by simply questioning. I have to agree. To me this idea is a win-win for both, the student and instructor. We can really learn from each other.
- In a perfect world, all students will find success educationally and vocationally. The world if far from perfect. My hope is that students will trust me enough and allow me to share my human services experiences with them. Students do not have to agree with me all the time or any of the time. Let the learning experience be about the different perceptions and beliefs we share. We can share and learn together…agreement is not required.
- While not about holding students back, I do want to make sure that our graduates are prepared and ready to enter the field of human services. We are in a field that possesses the ability to do great good and great harm. Human Services workers must know the difference. Thus, we instructors are gatekeepers for the field. If I believe a student is not ready for this field, I will tell them so in private and help work out a career development/educational plan or consider an alternate profession. I will do this not to be mean or egotistical or to judge, but protect the student who might be making a harmful decision, or to protect the field from a future worker that has too many personal issues to overcome. I see this as win-win. Should we as current professionals in the field wait until the new worker finishes school and starts work to say that, “well, perhaps this is not the right place for you?”. How might this be fair? Spend two, four or six years working toward something that might not be for you? Win-win is just about being honest within he moment of time as best we can.
Why do I share? Well, I see my interaction with students as win-win. Do you see your interaction with your instructors or co-workers as win-win? What about your future clients? Especially at the end of a long and stressful day? Something to think about is it not?
After working with hundreds of human services folks over the years, most are pretty well educated about human service practice. What the majority of workers do not have is personal self-awareness and how their own perceptions, paradigms and life decision-making impacts their clients and professional growth. I find this very, very concerning. Is this field not about being in touch with our self, feelings and thoughts? Is this not what we attempt to teach our clients?
I also find too few people who are willing to say “I am not sure”, or “I don’t know”. Those words are a sign of strength and not of weakness. We must overcome this assumption that saying “I need help” is bad.
This post was first made Feb. 28, 2012 – CJE