Troublesome Tutees

I want to preface this week’s blog by stating that the issues discussed below are issues that the Success Center has faced in the past and will doubtlessly face again. This is a long post, but it is important and I ask everyone to read it in its entirety.

What I have written is not prompted by any specific incident or the actions of any specific tutor: on the contrary I am honored and indeed humbled to be able to work with such an amazing group of people who can handle a wide range of situations with grace and professionalism. Everyone does their job superbly and, as a team, I feel we are stronger than sum of our parts. Unfortunately, not everything that happens in the Success Center is sunshine and roses and there are times when we will be challenged. Thus the subject of this week’s blog. —N.

* * * *

Last week I alluded to the fact that many students find themselves in similar situations and need similar help in overcoming their hurdles. This can be a positive thing, but it can also be a very negative thing.

This past Saturday I spent the evening settled into a lawnchair on the sidewalk directly across from the courthouse in downtown Roseburg getting ready to watch the graffiti night cruise.  Immediately preceding the cruise, as I sat with a cold Coke in hand and chatted with friends, a young man in an obvious hurry to get home drove around the blockade at the end of Chadwick Street, came to screeching halt at the corner of Douglas and Kane, and jumped out of his car. He appeared to be about 25. Yelling and screaming at the volunteers who were directing traffic he physically moved the wooden barricade, yelled some more profanities at the growing crowd, hopped back in his car and performed a beautiful 10-point burnout—tearing off down Kane St while screaming out his window. As he disappeared in a cloud of tire smoke and exhaust everyone sorta looked blankly at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and turned their attention the cruise which had just begun.

A few minutes later our hero returned on foot, cellphone in hand, calling the police and claiming one of the onlookers had assaulted him while said onlooker was attempting to talk him out of moving the barricade. Soon four Roseburg uniformed police officers showed up, directed a few questions to the crowd, the traffic volunteers, and of course or citizen hero. I and several of my friends had to give the rozzers our names and contact info and told them what we saw.

Apparently the star of our little drama had lived in Roseburg his whole life. He claimed in all those years he had never, not once, been barricaded from driving down Kane. It was a gross violation of his rights to be denied what he wanted to do on the public streets. A crush to his freedom as an American citizen and a taxpayer. The police officers patiently explained that the city had been hosting the graffiti cruise for 32 years and that the city had an obligation to direct or limit vehicle traffic so that pedestrian safety was ensured. They also pointed out that that the cruise had been utilizing the same route, with the same streets blocked off, for over three decades. Roseburg's own Special Snowflake wanted to hear none of it and reiterated, repeatedly and with great volume and energy, how the police officers were wrong and the crowds of people and the barricades and the numerous featured cars on the parade route all were an affront to his personal liberty and freedom to do pretty much whatever he wanted. This entire spectacle played out ten feet from where I was sitting and just a few feet from the cars rumbling past.

Of course, this little incident did not turn out the way he apparently wanted it to. Ten minutes after the police had shown up all four officers had wished the crowd a pleasant good evening, high-fived the kids, waved to the drivers in the parade and were escorting our hero down the street and making references to each other about a “5150” situation while talking quietly into their radios.

The cruise was exceptional, as always. A multitude of cars paraded through downtown while several thousand people watched in admiration—and not a little jealousy. The rest of the evening was uneventful.

I’ve been thinking about how occasionally situations in the Success Center draw similar parallels to what I saw Saturday night. In one situation someone was in a hurry, cut corners, and blamed other people when things didn’t go his way. In the end he not only did not get what he wanted, but things turned out much worse for him than if he had simply taken his time and followed directions. Alternatively, many people with those fine cars *had* taken their time and followed the proper steps, spending money and time and energy and frustrations getting their fine cars to look and run and drive absolutely perfect. In the end, their work and money paid off handsomely.

College is much the same. When faced with a daunting term paper or multiple pages of algebra homework, it can be overwhelmingly attractive to find some sort of shortcut—or blame the instructor for being overbearing or overly hard or just plain mean. The thing is, college is college. It isn’t middle school. We are being challenged. We are being asked to think outside the box, to apply ourselves to problems, ideas, and situations that we may not have faced before. Perhaps most importantly is the fact that we are all being treated fairly equally and for the most part have the same expectations from our instructors: to do our work, learn the material, and earn our grades. I have had students yell at me and storm out of the Success Center because they were having a difficult time with a single math problem. I had a science student inform me she was dropping out of school because she was going to fail her Bio class due to her lack of studying. I had it confirmed a few months later that she had, indeed, dropped out. I have had a writing student offer to pay me in both money and . . . services to write her 121 final paper for her. Needless to say, these attitudes and behaviors are not conductive to a successful college experience.

We all need to be aware that some students may have a (from our perspective) unreasonable set of expectations from the instructor, the tutors, or the college itself. To them, the system is unfair and they are being forced to work far beyond their limits and abilities. Perhaps they feel like victims. 

Despite these facts we must be prepared to deal with them as best as we can and know what to do if for whatever reason we cannot handle these tutees. It is vital that we remain calm, patient, and understanding with people who exhibit these behaviors. We may not agree with the conclusions these individuals come to, but to the student they are very real and we cannot brush them away.

Please think about your reactions to students who may feel they are having unfair burdens placed on them, and let’s open a discussion on how best to deal with these issues. I ask that each student post their ideas, and come back frequently to engage other posters and discuss ideas and methods.

And in case anyone is curious, “5150” is the police code for “involuntary psychiatric hold”.  

—Nathan