Respecting Our Students

Abstract

Giving our students the respect they deserve will improve their performance, our mutual interactions, and our satisfaction as teachers. This is obvious to many TPT readers, but there are times when we all, myself included, forget. There are times when our judgment is clouded by institutional culture, or our best intentions are subverted by the vexations of our roles as instructors. This essay is based on my own experience teaching physics (primarily at a public urban university, primarily at the introductory level), and on conversations with many colleagues here and elsewhere. I hope this essay will serve as a reminder to all of us that we must treat our students with respect, and that the rewards of doing so are worth the effort of rethinking some of our behaviors.