Help

 

I have discovered that while community colleges have everything necessary to produce quality work, they do not have the necessary standards to require quality work. I've been in four classes thus far and the student's willingness to work has been astoundingly low. Because my performance in my classes has always been high I am often requested by my fellow students for help.

The main problem I have found thus far is students unwillingness to actually study between class days. They show up at class, the more studious ones actually take some notes, the majority fail to ask questions about what mystifies them, then all of them leave furiously texting someone or talking on the phone.

The resulting grade averages make me wonder if I just happen upon all the low end classes, or if maybe average college students are fails in their grades but some how manage to make it through with a degree. What ever the case may be, I have had only one professor who I would describe as next to impossible to work with. While I will not give this individual’s name I will say the ambiguous nature of their teaching style has mystified even the most driven students. On the average I would guess it is the student, not the teacher, who is responsible for the necessity for help.

As a result of student's lack of education they find themselves looking for help. Of course the first question is if the teacher will curve the class. Curving the class is the most effective way of dismantling the educational benefit of a class. If the students do not get a curve, none of my four classes have had a curve, the next person they go to is the one student who turns in assignments on time and asks questions during class.

Unfortunately I desire to learn, and thus if something puzzles me I will ask a question about it. This establishes in the minds of my fellow students that I am actually paying attention to the teacher, and thus has set me up as a source of help in all four of my classes. I do not claim to be smart, nor particularly driven. However, what I am is diligent by nature and when I pay several hundred dollars for my education I feel the responsibility to get the most out of that class that I can. As a result I apply myself when other do not, and thus I make a good grade while others do not.

I am faced with a choice of helping my fellow students or not. There is only two reasons I would refuse to help my classmates. The first is to facilitate bad behavior. When a student has an emergency and cannot make it to class then I am more than willing to send that person my notes. When that person habitually fails to attend class and continues to ask for notes and summation of what we went over I begin to feel guilty that I am facilitating this person's failure to apply themselves in that class. If someone doesn't put in the work, they should not reap the benefits.

The second reason I might refuse to help a classmates is when they approach it from an exploitative angle. I am almost always willing to help a friend or a stranger, but when a stranger pretends to be a friend in order to get help from me and once the help is given abandons the friendship disguise I feel they are exploiting me. As an example, in my history class last semester a student entered the class several weeks late and asked if I had notes on the lectures that had been given upto that point. I said yes and sent her all of the notes. She never pretended to be my friend, simply asked for assistance.

This is in sharp contrast with a fellow student in one of my classes this semester who will pretend to suddenly want to talk to me and spend time around me when ever they need help. This kind of behavior turns me away from wanting to help that person.

I have come to one conclusion. I will not let myself help someone because of their individual merit in my eyes. When I pick and choose who I will help I open myself for others to pretend to be friends or to try to use their appearance to solicit help. In addition to being impartial I must also set a reasonable boundary. I will be willing to send notes or to look over someone's essay, but going beyond that requires that the student requesting help demonstrates they are actually working hard to do well on their own.

I do not want in my rush to help, ruin someone's academic development. Hard work will produce good grades, a simple principle that everyone should see. If I give of my hard work to others and there by cripple their ability to grasp this concept, I've done them a disservice and by no means have benefited them in anyway.