Don't you kids know who I am?
‘Probably the most significant medieval historian’ rounds on absentee students. Paul Jump writes
When students failed to show up for a lecture given by Guy Halsall, professor of history at the University of York, you might imagine that he suffered a flicker of self-doubt and that the empty seats bruised the confidence of a sensitive scholar.
Not a bit of it: Professor Halsall berated his students for missing a lecture from “probably the most significant historian of early medieval Europe under the age of 60”.
He posted the comments within the university’s virtual learning environment, which is used for online contact between students and tutors.
According to York student newspaper Nouse, Professor Halsall responded to an underattended second-year lecture by telling students they were failing to make the most of the “obscene amounts of money” that “mummy and daddy” were paying for their education.
For that money, he said, “you get the chance to hear (probably) the most significant historian of early medieval Europe under the age of 60 anywhere in the world give 16 lectures on his current research”.
He added that “people pay said lecturer large sums of money and fly him around the world to talk to their students, or to give keynote lectures at conferences”.
However, when students complained about his tone, Professor Halsall apologised for his “unprofessional and offensive” remarks.
“I unreservedly apologise to my students and to my departmental colleagues, who take their teaching extremely seriously and should by no means be tarred with the same brush as me. I am very sorry to have lost their respect,” he said.
Professor Halsall said that his outburst had been “born of frustration”. “I care deeply about my courses and I care deeply that my students learn something important from them,” he said.
“I also care about the students getting value for their money - as I too clumsily said in my message.
“I think it is obscene that students have to pay fees for higher education and I have published my view on this many times. That was what I meant by ‘obscene sums’; it was not intended as a comment on students’ wealth or otherwise.”
In a statement to Nouse, Stuart Carroll, head of York’s history department, and Simon Ditchfield, chair of its board of studies, said that Professor Halsall was among the department’s most highly rated lecturers and was unused to facing a “noticeable degree of non-attendance”.
A spokesman for the university told Times Higher Education: “The matter was dealt with internally by the department of history. Professor Halsall realised he had made an error in expressing his feelings in this way.”
Professor Halsall did not respond to requests for comment.
paul.jump@tsleducation.com.
Readers' comments (3)
03 Jan 2013 4:14pm
I am glad to see such support for Professor Halsall, and that there is some appreciation of the lack of respect shown to him by the students. However, the issue is not simply one of respect for the professor, nor for whether the absentee students are wasting money (their own, or someone else's). Such behavior also shows a lack of respect and collegiality to the other students, as well as a lack of understanding of the student's responsibilities towards the university. Preparing courses is difficult and time-consuming. It's not just about studying up on the latest research, writing or revising lectures, and making sure that content is delivered to a passive audience. Faculty also consider how much time needs to be built in for questions, what sorts of questions students might ask -- and what sorts of answers students might give to faculty questions -- as well as the number of students in the course. Teaching, whether lecturing or in seminars or tutorials, also requires a certain sort of mental preparation; it is, after all, a sort of performance. When half the expected number of students shows up, it can shift the dynamic in the lecture hall. The lecturer not only has to wonder what's happened to cause the absences, but she may have to change some of the questions she planned to ask, because there aren't as many students to answer. One might think that the students who showed up would want to take advantage of the smaller group, but that's seldom true. When half the students are absent, those who have shown up are also distracted. Some will be resentful: the intrinsic rewards of being attentive students fade when faced with the possibility that others have skived off with no repercussions, or that others have learnt that one can pass the course without attending lectures -- why didn't they also get that memo? Some will be worried that, in the absence of half the class, the professor might ask them a question. Some might simply be distracted by wondering why the room is so empty. In any case, this sort of attendance issue can undermine the learning of the other students and the effectiveness of the lecturer. It may not always do so, but it can; it's not all that different from half the students surfing the web or texting during lectures. In addition to changing the dynamics on the day, haphazard attendance can change dynamics over the long term. Faculty are expected to be responsive to student questions. It's all very well to say that students who miss lectures have to catch up themselves, but it doesn't always work that way. In an increasingly consumerist environment, students who miss lectures seldom have trouble asking questions in subsequent lectures that have already been answered, or coming to see the lecturer for a personalized short version of what they've missed. This wastes the time of the other students and the faculty member. And while it's perfectly reasonable to expect a student who is derailing a lecture to ask the questions afterwards, faculty who do so risk being accused of not being open to questions, or not being 'student-centered' enough. In my own experience, students who behave this way in lecture courses are not that different in tutorials and seminar courses. They may attend more regularly, but may not prepare very well. And again, while it's true that the student who comes unprepared is unlikely to be successful, and may be asked to leave the university, that doesn't change things during the term. There is nothing quite like a significant number of students who can't contribute to the conversation to suck all the life out of the course. I've encountered this several times, and despite valiant efforts by the students who are always prepared, it's demoralizing for all of us. More importantly, though, it affects the education of more dedicated and serious students. This is the greatest fallacy in approaching university education as if students were simply consumers and faculty were producers. Students are also producers, and with the privilege of university education comes a responsibility to contribute - or at the very least to do nothing to prevent other students from making the most of their time at university.
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03 Jan 2013 8:20pm
As one of the students that studied in this class and received this email, I would like to point out that he is a fantastic teacher (and a least a pretty serious academic) and is perfectly open about his own arrogance! It should also be noted that he apology he gave was not extracted (as far as I know) by the history faculty at York but on his own initiative. Thanks to THE for including his version of events, even if this story is lifted pretty directly from Nouse.
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04 Jan 2013 3:09pm
As a student studying under Guy Halsall I must come to his defense here. He is a true specialist and expert at both knowing his History and presenting it to the keen-minded through lectures and the like. There is a culture of laziness in attending lectures at university, particularly in the earlier years, which is facilitated by easy electronic access to materials. If a man who has dedicated his whole life to education cannot speak plainly to his students, then where is our hope? Should we rely on NGO's, or automated bureaucracy? Would fitting students with electronic check-in cards and standardized email attendance warnings solve this issue? I personally believe that honest communication and genuine teacher-student relationships are the way forward in education. Therefore his comments have a place. Electronic tools are going to become part of education - resisting them would only be an entrenched conservatism. It seems the real task is to harness their skills so as to enhance the learning relationship I believe Guy Halsall deserves respect, not just for his academic prowess, but for having the courage to speak openly about education more widely. If anything, his words are not an upset, but an asset to education.
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