A few days ago another bunch of students completed their studies. I supervised some BA theses and examined all of them. That process gave rise to following reflections.
The first thing that popped up is the issue of giving. When you get a student who is (even before starting the work on his thesis) convinced that his maximum mark is going to be E (lowest positive grade) regardless of his efforts, you face a twofold problem there.
First, he is not inclined to work as he does not believe in achieving anything. Second, even if you manage to cajole him to work, he is so afraid to express his thoughts that his belief about E becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I had three such characters. Somehow I got to all of them. I stripped off layers of distrust and skepticism and fear. Sometimes it took stating that he is not going to graduate unless he does a few things in about 3 days, sometimes it took simply showing the intriguing sides of their subjects.
Eventually, I had their trust and they believed me that they could achieve something. They managed well: all three pushed themselves to C-s. Yet there was that period of time when I felt walking on the thin thread: on one hand I made them believe in what I said, I made them come forward; on the other hand, I stripped them naked of their defences and made subject of examiners criticism (that in our college can be very harsh).
That was a hard moment - they had to dare to come forward and then fend for themselves. These moments make you question yourself very thoroughly. I wondered if I was taking them toward even deeper fall and deeper fear and disappointment.
Simultaneously, I realised very clearly that this was the only way - they had to get the learning experience and only by daring to come forward and fending for themselves could they stand on their own, look into the world with open eyes, and then fly into that wide and weird world.
They dared, they managed. Thin line was walked and passed.
To the topic then: what could we give? what do we give?
I would answer it this way: nothing but clear realisation that you cannot walk life without bleeding your feet or getting occasional black eye - and courage to do so, to learn and achieve.
Teaching this means balancing on a very thin thread and risking a major failure.
