Teaching

[Minnesotan]

Lying is an excellent way to earn their respect. In fact, I would tell them that I'm not really a TA, I'm an undercover FBI operative sent to the school to weed out the nasty pre-marital sex problem on our college campuses.

That should impress them.

[DespSeekPhd]

Your age is not their business anyway. Personally, I'd tell them that I don't share my age. But if you can't do that, then no, I don't think there is anything wrong with lying about it. Honestly, what undergrad is going to find out, and if they do, who cares? Most of them are lying about their age every weekend at the bars.

[Minnesotan]

Yeah. Because education isn't based on a foundation of honesty and trust, huh?

Why stop at your age? Why not tell them that the moon is made of green cheese and Cicero was a Persian harem girl? If you're going to lie to your students, you might as well make it entertaining.

[Guest cheryl]

Wow, the age thing ruffled some feathers. I really think that higher education has bigger problems to worry about than an occasional TA fudging their age by a year or two to keep some undergrads in line. That slope definitely isn't slippery enough to lead to any real academic dishonesty. All I'm saying is: pick your battles. And keep it in perspective.

It's really hard to convey tone in web postings, so I promise that I'm truly not trying to be catty when I say this (just curious): are you quoting someone/something about the "foundation of honesty and trust" thing? I've never heard that and personally can think of a lot of things education is based on more heavily than those two qualities... but then, perhaps I'm just being cynical

[chebi]

Well, I'm sorry if some took offense to what I said about lying about your age if asked. I was just telling you guys what my advisor told me to do a couple years ago. She told me that it is harder for a woman to get respect in a classroom situation if she is younger than it is for a man, so sometimes in order to keep the class in order, it is necessary to act much older than you are and/or lie about your age.

[Guest L again]

I took some time off before going back for the PhD, so I don't have to lie about my age...but I agree with Chebi's advisor that it can be a real problem for women who look too young. I look much younger than I am, and I find that students start to think they can befriend you and get special favors. Also, you have to be strict from the start and if you look or act 22, they're not going to respect your authority to give them an F if they earn it. So if you don't like the idea of lying, you could certainly make clear through being professional, wearing business attire, or poking fun at yourself---for not being a spry young undergrad anymore---that you are NOT an undergrad.

[Minnesotan]

Agreed, regarding our inability to convey tone very well over the net. I'm trying to be humorous, but at the same time there is a part of me that knows I would never trust someone who lies about something so trivial as age. And, as for blaming gender, that's a cop out. Women are fully capable of being in control of a classroom. In fact, the most authoritarian professors I had as an undergrad were female.

[chebi]

Boy, I'm a horrible person. I lie about my age to my students and I use gender as a cop out. I shouldn't be trusted to teach. I guess Minnesotan can teach us all about how to live. If you can't tell, I am also trying to be "humorous".

[Guest cheryl]

Just for the sake of starting a dialogue (b/c I'm bored), don't you think there's a reason why your most authoritarian profs were women? I'm guessing most of them were probably older--though not necessarily--and had to deal with more gender issues when entering academia, so maybe they've had to become more disciplinarian than male profs to keep their classes in order. Things are obviously getting a lot better for women in academia, but we haven't totally conquered the gender biases - hence the advice to lie about your age. I think that between being hardass and lying about your age, the latter is the preferable option for everyone involved. It'd be nice, though, if neither were necessary. No one (hopefully) would disagree that women are capable of being in control of a classroom. It's just that, in my experience, they sometimes seem to need extra measures to do so.

BTW, I remember seeing your post in another forum, Minnesotan, and totally agree that history is in the humanities. I'm a medievalist, how bout you?

[DespSeekPhd]

Yay, another medievalist!

I think a lot of women profs become authoritarian because they have to deal with a lack of respect, as Cheryl says, although it's probably not limited to older profs. It's still tough sometimes for a woman to command respect from a class. Personally, I taught high school for 5 years between BA and beginning my MA, so I'm not in the least bit worried. Still, I look a lot younger than my age, so I expect to have issues. I just act like there shouldn't be issues. Supreme confidence works wonders - even when it's fake, but preferably if you really are comfortable with yourself.

[Minnesotan]

I agree. It's all a matter of confidence. Students (of any age) are like dogs and bees - if they smell fear, they attack.

I don't believe that women these days have it any tougher than the guys, unless they make it tougher on themselves. Yes, the profs of whom I spoke were from the 80s PhD pool, where there was likely more to deal with in matters of gender inequality. That might have influenced their teaching style, but I think some people are just better able to gain respect without the use of fear than others. =)

Umm... I'm sort of a classicist-medievalist. I like early European intellectual history, the history of philosophy and science, and philosophy of history type stuff. As long as I can trace an idea back to a dead Greek or Roman, I'm happy.