Office Hours

It is no secret that I despise holding office hours.  It not because I am evil or that I don't care.  It's that no one uses them.  Well, I take that back.  MY students don't use them.  Even when students would benefit from coming in and chatting with me, rarely does a student come in.  I wondered, informally, if it was the generation, too proud to ask for help, or that the students just didn't care enough to be bothered by it.  I am wrong on both counts.

I sit in a communal office for all of the adjunct faculty.  This is where we hold our office hours, grade, and have mail delivered.  My colleagues in this room have students come to see them all the time.  All. The. Time.   What is the difference from their students and my students?  Subject matter.  Students are coming in to ask questions of their math, science, and foreign language instructors.  The other English teachers and I?  Tumbleweeds.

Why won't students ask for help when it comes to their own language?  ENGL 101 is a prerequisite for just about everything in college.  Upper division courses require a C or better in it, no matter the content area of said upper division class.  If ENGL 101 is so damn important throughout all of college, why won't the students seek assistance like they do for other subjects?  I don't understand, and I wish I did.  My hypothesis is that they feel, since they speak the language, that they know it and think they don't need help as a result.  I can testify that many do need help, especially regarding the elevation of their work to college standards.  I wish I could convince some of them to pop in and see me.

Maybe I'll take an nap during my office hours instead.