Bubbling over

Yesterday at freshman registration I was impressed by a colleague's patience as she helped a clueless student struggle toward a workable class schedule. "If I were an incoming student, I would want you to advise me," I said. "You always sound so calm and warm and pleasant."

"That's on the outside," she said. "You should see what's bubbling up inside."

I know what she means, because I've found some interesting things bubbling up inside while working with incoming students. This was the third freshman registration session I've worked this summer, but everyone agreed that this group was different: in the large-group information sessions, they were wiggly and giggly and inattentive--and so were their parents! I wondered whether this restlessness would show up in the one-on-one scheduling sessions.

Of the students I registered, half were smart and attentive and ready to work, while the others ranged from moderately confused to utterly disengaged. They couldn't seem to grasp our general education requirements, which is understandable because it's not the easiest system to grasp, but they also didn't seem to want to try. One of them kept telling me, "I don't care what I take. Whatever you think is best. As long as it's not too hard."

I could manage these students pretty well, helping them understand requirements and select meaningful classes, but one student made that stuff inside threaten to bubble over. If we offered a major in text-messaging, he would be the ideal candidate. It didn't matter what I said or did: his eyes stayed glued to the cell-phone and his fingers kept flying across the keyboard. When I asked a direct question ("Would you like PSYC 101 at 1 or 2 in the afternoon?"), he would utter a brief monosyllable. Finally I turned to him and said, "Am I interrupting something?"

He put away the cell phone and started paying a modicum of attention--just enough to get done and get out of there so he could whip out the cell phone again. He ended up with a decent schedule, but if he can't learn to focus on learning instead of text-messaging, he's unlikely to succeed.

At least I succeeded in keeping my anger in check. I felt that stuff bubbling up inside and I let a wisp of sarcasm escape, but I tamped down the rest. One of these days it'll bubble over for real--and trust me, it won't be pretty.