Students who want you to care about them

[mahagonny]

Well, you're an adjunct, aren't you? So are your workload and income dependent on your popularity with students? If so, why wouldn't your peers be incentivized to find ways to cultivate that mystique of 'caring.'
(I use quotations because now it's a loaded word -- could mean any number of things beyond the simple meaning we usually associate it with).

[downer]

I am a person with an adjunct job, please.

Nobody has ever mentioned teaching evaluations to me, and I stopped looking at them a few years ago. Recently I failed half the students in a class and there's been no blowback. This is purely about my own teaching satisfaction.

[mahagonny]

I am a person with an adjunct job, please.

Nobody has ever mentioned teaching evaluations to me, and I stopped looking at them a few years ago. Recently I failed half the students in a class and there's been no blowback. This is purely about my own teaching satisfaction.

Well, I think you care about them. You've convinced me. They must have needed failing.
But I don't know how your colleagues with adjunct jobs think about the need to be popular. So it's possible they respond to some incentive to be popular. If I understand you query it's about your role but also the culture in your midst.

[downer]

I care about being a good teacher. To say I care about the students in any other way would be a distortion. I forget about them as quickly as they forget about me once the semester is over. Occasionally a student will stand out and be memorable.

Some of the signs of caring that seem to make students feel cared for seem about as genuine as the airline announcements saying "Sorry for the delay. We thank you for your patience." I guess I am concerned that by showing "little signs" of caring I am participating in a culture of bullshitting. But I do want them to learn and succeed.

[mythbuster]

What Hegemony describes I would categorize as good mentorship, which I think is a bit different than the more basic caring about your students.
   One issue I run into is that I exhibit my care of students by the course policies that I put in place.  Dropped quizzes, late policies etc. But for some students, this then comes across as not caring, when they want special exceptions to those policies.  It's the balance between the individual and policies that are fair and equitable for all. The larger the class the bigger the perceived gap can be between caring about the individual vs the class as a collective group. Especially if it's a large class of first year students, who are used to teachers actively tracking them own and creating new assignments to get them to a passing grade.

[mahagonny]

I care about being a good teacher. To say I care about the students in any other way would be a distortion. I forget about them as quickly as they forget about me once the semester is over. Occasionally a student will stand out and be memorable.

Some of the signs of caring that seem to make students feel cared for seem about as genuine as the airline announcements saying "Sorry for the delay. We thank you for your patience." I guess I am concerned that by showing "little signs" of caring I am participating in a culture of bullshitting. But I do want them to learn and succeed.

I've taught  overcrowded sections on a regular basis my entire career. My attitude is some amount of bullshitting being necessary is the lay of the land. It's what I found when I took the job. That doesn't mean I don't work hard to prepare good instructive assignments. I do. But since I do read my course evaluations, I give the students little cues here and there to take note of the fact that I care about them. I also tell them that I will read the  evaluations, and therefore, I appreciate the thoughtful comments. It may be bullshitting, or it may be a kind of showmanship.
Most of the responses that you'll get here are probably from tenured folks. Their situation is not yours. You don't have job security.
I continue to believe that hiring teaching faculty with no path to job security is irresponsible.

[ciao_yall]

I genuinely enjoy my students' company and let them know I see and appreciate them as people in regular interactions. Some occasionally want and need a little more attention from me because that is just how they are, and it's not too time-consuming to give them a few extra minutes.

So I think a general good vibe goes a long way.

[Puget]

I guess I am concerned that by showing "little signs" of caring I am participating in a culture of bullshitting.

Otherwise known as being a member of society-- very little of the social niceties are "genuine", but imagine the hell we'd live in if everyone expressed what they were actually feeling and thinking at all times.

[downer]

I guess I am concerned that by showing "little signs" of caring I am participating in a culture of bullshitting.

Otherwise known as being a member of society-- very little of the social niceties are "genuine", but imagine the hell we'd live in if everyone expressed what they were actually feeling and thinking at all times.

People in NYC seem to do OK with it.

[marshwiggle]

I guess I am concerned that by showing "little signs" of caring I am participating in a culture of bullshitting.

Otherwise known as being a member of society-- very little of the social niceties are "genuine", but imagine the hell we'd live in if everyone expressed what they were actually feeling and thinking at all times.

Normal human courtesy, which should be exercised in any ordinary situation, historically wasn't reserved for specific people. Unfortunately as a society, we've gotten to where the "universal" category is becoming unacceptable. Consider the idea that people are either "racist" or "anti-racist"; that implies that attempting to treat everyone equally is not a valid option, even though  that has been the basis of good behaviour for ages.

In the student situation, it's not exceptional for an instructor to be interested in matters related to a student's success,  and which wouldn't be inappropriate socially. (Just like a medical professional would naturally express interest in a patient's diet, activities, etc. insofar as they affect the patient's health.)

Going beyond matters related to the student's education shouldn't be expected in general.  There may be circumstances where an instructor may become aware of some mutual interest with a student which can allow some non-course-related interaction, but that will likely be the exception rather than the rule.

[Hegemony]

Normal human courtesy, which should be exercised in any ordinary situation, historically wasn't reserved for specific people.

Well, I don't think enslaved people were generally afforded a lot of normal human courtesy. And lest you think I'm bringing up the racist card, I'm also talking about slaves in ancient Rome, slaves in early medieval England, and slaves throughout history. Even apart from that, hierarchy, dismissiveness, and condescension were considered the only civilized way to behave in much of the world for millennia. Just to mention the professional historian's view of the situation.

Be that as it may, it would be good to give as much respect as possible to as many people as possible. Even that category that receives a famously small amount of respect — people one disagrees with.

[marshwiggle]

Normal human courtesy, which should be exercised in any ordinary situation, historically wasn't reserved for specific people.

Well, I don't think enslaved people were generally afforded a lot of normal human courtesy. And lest you think I'm bringing up the racist card, I'm also talking about slaves in ancient Rome, slaves in early medieval England, and slaves throughout history. Even apart from that, hierarchy, dismissiveness, and condescension were considered the only civilized way to behave in much of the world for millennia. Just to mention the professional historian's view of the situation.

Be that as it may, it would be good to give as much respect as possible to as many people as possible. Even that category that receives a famously small amount of respect — people one disagrees with.

The point that many have pointed out is that the change over time is the broadening of who to include in the "human" category. It has been the general idea that societal progress was reflected in making the "human" category more universal. However, now identity politics turns this whole idea on its head by denying the importance of of a universal human category, with rules and expectations being the same for all, in favour of other categories based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. with special rules for different groups within each category.

The universal ideal, while probably never perfectly achievable in practice, gives a consistent vision of how to measure progress. The identitarian principle, on the other hand, contains many inherent contradictions and inconsistencies so that there isn't even a clear ideal to work towards.

[Hegemony]

Well, I don't want to wade into the weeds with this one. Has anyone ever been convinced by an argument on the internet? Is there any chance you're going to be persuaded by anything I write? I don't think so.

So what can we agree on? Maybe that we should endeavor to extend as much respect as we can manage to as many people as we can manage?

I am reminded of a line attributed to the playwright Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux: "In this world, you have to be a bit too kind just to be kind enough."

[downer]

I think the wider cultural issues are interesting.

When higher education was education for the few, it was easier for faculty to have a personal relationship with students.

As we moved to large classes, and now move towards online education and even computer-guided teaching, the personal element is reduced. And we are also moving to having a large proportion of the population in higher ed, often without much enthusiasm about being there. Arguably, faculty are stretched thinner than ever too.

At the same time, there's quite a lot of snowflakes and, at least at some private schools, administrations who want all their customers to feel like they are at a luxury resort.

Seems like there's a growing gap between what students feel they need and what faculty can provide.

[Caracal]

I guess I am concerned that by showing "little signs" of caring I am participating in a culture of bullshitting.

Otherwise known as being a member of society-- very little of the social niceties are "genuine", but imagine the hell we'd live in if everyone expressed what they were actually feeling and thinking at all times.

Which isn't really bullshitting. Bullshitting would be pretending you cared about your students learning things and doing well in your class, when you actually didn't give a crap. You do care about those things. If a student is putting in the work, but needs help with something, or wants to learn more, you want them to come and talk to you. So, the goal is just to find ways to signal those things. I think it is important to find ways to do that which feel reasonably authentic to you. I often think of my teaching persona as an edited version of the person I am in other aspects of life. I'm  more enthusiastic, more upbeat, more encouraging, less sarcastic and less grumpy. Still me, but just a version better suited to the classroom.