You Won't Believe This, But

George G. Ambury is an associate professor of adult education at
Queen’s University.

One source of humor and frustration for university teachers is the
litany of excuses heard from students who have failed to meet the
expectations of their instructors. Using a case-study approach, Gary
Colwell, a professor with more than 15 years of postsecondary
experience, sets out to analyze the basis of student discontent. Broad
areas addressed include complaints about instructors’ bias; excuses
and complaints about essays, exams, tests, and class marks; and
emotional complaints.

The author is generally balanced in his assessments (recognizing, for
example, that there are irresponsible and incompetent professors just as
there are serious, hardworking students), but his study is seriously
flawed by his failure to address the power differential that exists
between students and teachers. Nevertheless, the trend Colwell perceives
among students of blaming others for their own failings raises some
interesting, and troubling, questions.