Grading ... Not Grading

I am supposed to be grading.  It feels like I'm always supposed to be grading.  Yes, I knew this was going to be part of the job going in, but I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined the sheer tedium of grading essays into which virtually no effort has been put.

I have ranted about students and grading before (here and here), but the apathy appears to be getting worse.  Either that, or I am getting more and more bitchy and sensitive about the students' lack of care.

To top it off, at one of the schools where I teach, there is a culture of doing more to make the students happy, rather than put the burden of educational responsibility where it belongs - on the students themselves.  How are we teaching them to survive in the real world if we continuously pander to their dependence?  My teenager is more independent than more than half the students who come into my classroom.  He know that excuses don't fly, so don't even try.  He could teach my students a thing or two about taking responsibility, but they wouldn't hear it.

School can be a fun and exciting time, but the majority of the time spent in school is time spent working, including approximately 2-3 hours of work outside of class for each hour spent in.  Many students don't do the work for reasons unknown to me.  It could be that they're lazy, they forgot, or they just don't bother (I'm leaning toward the last).  Am I not supposed to assign work outside of class now?  I can just see it: "Students are unhappy with completing homework outside of class; therefore, we have decided that all work must be completed in class, so students are free to party and not think about school once they leave every day."  This is not outside of the realm of possibility: students were just given equal parking rights.  If you're an adjunct instructor with classes later in the day, you get to park in the back of the lot.  Hope you didn't piss off any students today, or you might end up with a keyed door.

The whole thing has made me a bit bitter about my chosen profession.  Yes, I entered into this career knowing that I had to do the dirty work, but I didn't foresee the politics involved in making sure students are happy so that they stay enrolled, rather than focusing my energy on those students who give a shit about learning something, about bettering themselves to get that better job, about learning for the sake of gaining knowledge about the world.  Why do I have to spend my and my family's time putting energy into something that so blatantly doesn't deserve it?  Maybe I'll start using this method to grade essays from now on (he uses exams, but I think the principle will hold): Guide to Grading Exams.

I just now realized that my blue pen and correction tape match, as do the grey pen and stapler - that was totally not planned.  I'll try to take that as the silver lining to this cloud.  Maybe it will spur me to continue grading.....