Required vs. Optional

In one of my previous jobs, I coordinated a family counseling center and learned a lot about motivation.  Some clients came to us begging for help to ‘make things better’ in their family (“the motivated”) and others were court-ordered (“the angry.”)  Guess which ones benefited more from our free services?  Yes, though all received the services for free (which sometimes makes people undervalue them), the motivated families gained something from the services, put work into them, and made progress in improving their family communication or other issues: They met program goals.  The angry, although they sometimes had turnarounds and ah-ha moments, rarely did.  They often saw themselves as victims.

The same sometimes goes for a minority of our students.  Since college is not court-ordered, perhaps it is their busy lives or a failure to see a clear benefit to anything assigned?  The push-back for anything required is audible.  You can hear it in their language: “Do I have to?  Is it on the test?  Do we get credit for doing the math homework problems?  Why do I have to take math?”  When they must do tutoring they may feel it is punishment, and so they play the victim.  An unintended potential side-effect of requiring tutoring is that it may set a negative perception of tutoring or the Learning Center – this can haunt a student’s whole academic career, causing them to miss out on valuable assistance.  

I had a good conversation the other day with an instructor about whether assigning ‘meeting with a tutor to discuss your rough draft’ was helpful to students or just caused aggravation.  We determined that the answer is ‘it depends.’  If they already write well, then the assignment is not necessarily going to improve their work, but will take their time.  If they are not confident in their writing, it may make them even more self-conscious to have someone other than their instructor look at it and give suggestions.  If they are a stressed parent or employee, it may be ‘busy work that they don’t have time for…’  What I suggest instead of requiring that a tutor look at their work, is that instructors offer a couple of alternative assignments, of which tutoring is one.  Then students get to pick their best option, and the writing tutors aren’t swamped with hundreds of last-minute requests for paper reviews all in the same week.  It’s a win-win situation and may reduce the number of complaints instructors receive also.  

In my other hat as an advisor, ‘required advising’ is sometimes met with the same victim-attitude.  Some schools block registration for students until they have met with an advisor each semester, while others don’t require advising at all (they offer or suggest it.)  Having worked at institutions who have tried multiple variations on required advising, here’s my opinion on that topic.  Required advising works for specific majors that have very prescriptive/linear programs, because students NEED the advising to avoid making mistakes that cost them time and money, but only if you have well-informed advisors.  Advising is usually helpful to most students, and once they come, they often return because they see the benefit.  Some schools conquer the ‘required vs. optional’ issue by requiring advising only at pivotal points in a student’s program: I.E. Beginning, mid-point, and 1-2 semesters before graduation.  Of course, the best benefit of advising is not having someone tell you what classes to take, it is having someone to talk to about the bigger questions: “Am I in the right program for my career goal?” or “How can I best prepare for my next steps now?”   

At YC, there is required advising for remediation due to academic probation (GPA less than 2.0) – which has an unintended consequence of setting a perception of advisors as meting out punishment to bad students.  Who wants to get a whipping for bad grades?  But those sessions aren’t about punishing, they are about showcasing supportive services and generating a plan for successful improvement.  I'd guess that some of the same students whose perceptions prevent them from getting help at the Learning Center are the ones who might end up with academic probation issues.  Sooner or later, the victim attitude tends to be one of those self-fulfilling prophecies. Though it isn’t always possible, having some choices in how to meet a requirement or fulfill a learning objective, helps empower students and move them away from the victim mode.  That’s win-win too.