Why Should I Care?

Every student should regularly be asking this question of their instructors.  Not because you don’t care, but for exactly the opposite reason - because you really do care.  And most instructors are lousy at answering the question.

Teachers should address the query early and often.  It should be apparent from the design of the syllabus.  It should be touched upon every time the topic of discussion changes.  And it should certainly be recapped before every midterm and final exam.  “What have we learned so far? How do the parts combine to meet course goals? (What are the course goals?) Why has the material been presented in this order?  How does it fit together to inform the whole?  How does the previous unit inspire the next?  How should we be utilizing the material in the book?  What are the important messages, themes, and ideas that will recur in this and later classes?  Why is our approach different from earlier courses and that of other instructors?”

Good instructors know the answer to every one of these questions.  And yet most instructors fail to address them directly.  The reasons are fairly obvious: there isn’t enough time to present the curricula and connect the dots for students; instructors already know how and why the ideas fit together and it doesn’t occur to them that their students do not (forgetting that it wasn’t obvious the first time they were exposed to it, either); and a belief that engaged students will pick up the relevant themes and link ideas on their own.

Poor instructors may or may not be able to answer these questions.  They may be using someone else’s syllabus/book without understanding the subtleties with which they were designed.  They may not be critical-thinkers but simply teach a recipe of topics the way they learned them in school.  And they may simply be too lazy to make the effort.

Let’s assume that all most students who attend class want to learn.  Even if they are not fully invested in the topic, if they are going to bother to show up to class they would like to get something out of it.  Given this assumption that students actually do care about the material (and are likely to care even more about the material if they know the “why” as much as “what” they are being taught) instructors have a responsibility to provide context.  And that context can be presented in many disparate ways from lecture to class discussions to small-group work to simple question and answer sessions.

But in all seriousness, “Why should I care?” is a terrible question.  Be respectful of your instructors and help them help you.  Be polite and direct with your questions.  Try, “How does this relate to what we did last week?” or “How will we use this in the future?”  Engage your instructor – help them help you.

Even the most well-intentioned instructors can lose track of what their students don’t know.  Encourage them to provide the context which will enable you to see the bigger picture.

And if your instructor won’t, or can’t, answer those questions…find one who can and will.  Life is too short to “learn” from lousy mentors.