I want you to choose a topic from the readings - Essay Example

Sarah sparks is talking about entitlement in students and further explains some of the different scenarios that irritate students leading to aggravation. Students according to a research by Tracey Zinn, a psychology associate professor, show that teachers may be unintentionally feeding the sense of entitlement. The professor and the James Madison colleagues are researching on ways to measure academic entitlement and how it develops. Findings have surprisingly found out that students are most likely to show “serious instances of incivility” right after academic assessment, be they tests results or mid-term grades.

Some of the symptoms they came up with showing entitlement in students were: knowledge is a right that should be delivered with very little effort or discomfort on the students part; a high grade should come, not from mastery of material, but in return for non-academic aspects of education; if a student does not perform well on a test, it is a sign that the test was too difficult, not that the student did not understand the material. The researchers also found out that students who scored high on assessment of academic entitlement were less able to control their own learning and had less sense of control.

However; professor Zinn has not found the direct cause and effect between specific teacher behavior and student entitlement. The professor though suggests that, there are some potential ways teachers can cut down on the whine. These included options such as providing clear expectations for students and assignments, in which the effort put in is clearly related to the grade a student, will receive. They should explain why particular policies are set up and also explain the value of the task the teachers ask students to do.

The teachers are urged not to respond to students request for “the right answer” but rather help students to understand the concepts and to think through their own problem solving. As