Student complaints

One of the facts of life of teaching is dealing with student complaints. As an administrator I also get to deal with the student complaints that either the instructor did not satisfactorily address, or with the students who are too afraid to approach their instructor.

In my own classes most complaints are around grading--I was unfair, the question was unclear, the answer ambiguous. Sometimes I am wrong, I misread an answer, I deduct more points than I should have, I missed something on the page. Those are the easy ones. I'm happy when students bring my mistakes to my attention and allow me to make amends. Sometimes I don't believe I am wrong. I am looking for an answer the student did not provide Usually the student is willing to accept my explanation and we can move on. Also, not too unpleasant.

Complaints about attitudes, classroom climate, or other students are harder to deal with. Again, as an instructor, I can usually listen objectively and will try to rectify the situation. More often, though, I hear these complaints not as the instructor, but as an administrator. Here, it is harder for me to intervene. What I have learned over the years, though, is that what students want most is to be heard. They would like things to change, but more importantly, they would like someone to care about their experience. I spend a lot of time with these students listening, offering tissues, and listening some more. After hearing their concerns I will ask what they might like to see happen. Often they don't want anything more than what they just experienced--someone who listened and took their views seriously.

Listening, caring, respecting....that is what most of us want to receive from our friends, partners, and co-workers. It seems only reasonable that our students would want the same.