The Adjunct

When I began teaching, I always wore very casual clothing.  I had a desire to be viewed by my students as “one of them.”  At the time, I was 23 years old, and very close in age to most of my students.  I wanted to be known as a teacher who was hip and cool and, above all else, young.  So I wore a t-shirt and jeans to class, or sometimes polo and khaki shorts, and I asked everyone to call me by my first name.  I also didn’t take roll, and sat cross-legged on my desk.

We learn through trail and error.

No one came to class.  Why should they? I had no attendance policy.  I explained to them that they were all adults, and they were all at college by choice, and for their own personal betterment, so just come as much as they felt they needed to do well on the essays and exams.  And no one ever showed up.  And they all failed.  And they all complained about their fails.  And now I have a strict attendance policy.

As the years passed, fewer and fewer students commented on how young I looked.  Last year, a student guessed that I was 40, and I nearly had a one-third-life-crisis.  The next day, a student asked me in front of the entire class if this was my first time teaching, and I didn’t get an overwhelming feeling that she asked me this because I looked so darn young.  I decided that dressing down and looking cool, casual, and hip was no longer what I wanted; fear and respect was where it’s at!  Ever since, I’ve worn a suit and tie to work everyday.  While my students are less inclined to pull up a chair and “rap” with me, they sure as shine don’t pull half the crap they used to.

I still sit on my desk, from time to time.