Back in the Stone Age, I taught in the Computer Science Technology department of what was then called Texas State Technical Institute. In most cases, the first day of class consisted of students showing up to get a syllabus and get counted as present, and the teaching would commence the next class day.
However, after a few quarters of dealing with students who had coasted through high school phoning it in, I realized I needed to adjust their expectations of how an education really works. In the new era, on the first day, when they came in to grab a syllabus and bug out, I invited them to take a seat. I then went through the better part of an hour orienting them to how things work in my class, and then gave them a 20-question test that counted as a major test grade.
I informed them of the school attendance policy, which said if they crossed the threshold of absences, I could, and definitely would, administratively drop them from the course, and they would be free to try again the next quarter.
I advised them that we don’t use the C word (curve) when they don’t do well on a test. Their future employers would expect them to be able to do their jobs right the first time, and so did I.
Somewhere in the lecture, I talked about having the nerve to do the hard thing. My example was: If you want to test your nerve, the next time you get on an elevator with other people, when they turn around to face the door, you don’t turn. You face the other people. And if you really want to test your nerve, intentionally make eye contact and hold it. I did warn them that this last step would very likely create a very hostile environment.
One day a student (Joe Sublett, a really cool dude) came to class and said, “Hey, you know that elevator thing you talked about? I did it after that first class.”
I said, “And what happened?”
“After a few seconds one guy in the elevator said, “I bet you just came from Whittington’s class.”
