This blogpost will look my personal reputation in a class here at the University of Illinois. There is one professor that I have taken almost every class they have to offer. So my reputation with this professor has been built over several semesters. Each additional class I take with this professor adds to my reputation with them. The reputation that I have tried to build up is that of someone who is very responsible. I make sure to turn in my work on time. I put additional effort into my classes with this professor to ensure that I score highly on exams. I ask this professor questions that pertain to his interests, as well as follow the topic of the class, to show them that I have similar interests. This reputation started to be built with the first class I took with the professor and was strengthened with each additional class and through all of our meetings or email correspondence.
There have been multiple occasions where I have wanted to stray from my reputation with this professor. Turning in all of my work on time and scoring well on all the quizzes and exams is a very time consuming. Every time I had an assignment due or a test to study for I would have to make the decision to do my school work over hanging out with friends. Now most of the time I would actually do my work and skip hanging out with friends but on some occasions I would rely on my reputation to help me out so I could hang out with my friends.
One occasion sticks out in my memory. I had a fairly large project due in this professors class. I had put some work in on this project but still had a fair amount of work to do. My friends were going to a party that I had been looking forward to for a few days by then. I took a risk and decided to go to this party instead of finishing the work I had to get done for the next day. In this instance, I had abandoned my reputation to get some immediate gain, in this case a fun night out. The next day, I had to face my professor with my assignment not completed. Luckily, after taking so many classes and having built a strong relationship with this professor, I was able to get a few extra days to finish the assignment with no questions asked. My reputation of turning work in time and at a high quality had allowed me to not suffer any consequences from temporarily abandoning my reputation. I turned in the assignment a few days late but at a very high level of quality to repair any damage that may have been done to my reputation in the mind of my professor.
In an earlier blogpost, I looked at a conflict between two people in a work situation. This conflict was from a fictional television show that centered on politics in Washington, DC. Frank Underwood is the main character of this program and he was in a fight with Marty Spinella over an education bill that was being brought to the floor of the House and Senate. I bring up this conflict because it serves as an example of someone abandoning their reputation for an immediate gain. Underwood had worked with Spinella numerous times before they started working on the education bill. The show makes it seem like they are friends during the early negotiations for the education bill. In Spinella's mind, Underwood had created a reputation for being an honest man. Underwood abandoned this reputation though in order to get some provisions that he wanted into the education bill. He lied to Spinella about the contents of the education bill and Spinella trusted what he said about the education bill. Through his lie, Underwood was able to get an education bill that served his interests much more than the interests of the teachers, who Spinella was representing. However, unlike my slight abandonment of my reputation with my professor, Underwood's abandonment of his reputation caused irreparable damage to his reputation and he was never able to work with Spinella after the fact.
I find it interesting that you can take multiple courses from the same prof. Many of the instructors I knew in the College of Business when I was an associate dean there taught only one course - over and over again. Many years ago, when things were organized differently in the Econ department, I had a few student who took intermediate micro from me and then took math econ too. But that was unusual. So the story you tell strikes me as pretty rare.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think it is a very good thing. To have an instructor you like to motivate you to do your best work, that is good for both the teacher and the student. So it probably should be more of a normal activity.
As to the bit you wrote about regarding cashing in, I wonder whether it seemed that way from the instructor's perspective. Many student ask me if they can turn in work a little late. It happens so frequently that I don't give it much thought. For instance, if on this particularly blog post somebody only submitted it later today or tomorrow, I'd read it and still count it. We don't discuss this is class for more than a week, so why not. It is also not the type of thing I remember unless the same kid does it all the time. But, of course, your instructor might have noticed and thought it unusual for you.
That is interesting that you haven't seen a professor teaching multiple courses. I have had 4 professors be the instructors for at least 2 courses that I've taken. Of these professors, one was an economics professor, so I suppose times have changed a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhen I take a course with a professor I have had before I tend to perform better in the course. Whether it's because I'm more comfortable with the professor or have gotten use to their instruction style, I'm not sure, but I feel like I get more out of the courses. At U of I, class sizes tend to be rather large, so having a professor for more than one course lets you get to know them better and lets them get to know you better. I think this turns the feelings of the University of Illinois into the feeling of a smaller college.
Yeah, I'm sure the professor did not really give much thought to why I was turning in an assignment late. He may have noticed it was unusual but professors tend to have so much work and so many students to keep track of that they don't have the time to dwell on minor issues such as a few late assignments.