For every discussion in class, there’s a student that insists on being right, even when she’s wrong. She will mouth off for half the class, demonstrating that she did not even glance at the reading, much less think critically about the topic.
In the interest of avoiding confrontation, many professors never directly come out and tell students that they’re wrong, that they clearly didn’t spend enough time reading, that their interpretation is way off, etc. Instead, professors reassure students that “it’s a good thought” or “that’s partially right” or some other weak, roundabout excuse.
As the leaders of the class, professors have a responsibility to promote excellent discussion. Irrelevant rants not only waste everyone’s time, but they can actually be detrimental to the educational process if professors don’t correct inaccuracies.
Foremost, students are here to be educated. When professors don’t clearly denounce false statements as such, other students in the class may get the impression that the wrong information is actually right. This is especially problematic, for example, in foreign language classes, when the professor doesn’t correct improper usage or pronunciation.
Comments that add nothing to the discussion, like, “I feel that the author makes an interesting point,” should be equally censured. If you want to talk about your feelings, Student Health and Counseling Services will set you up with free counseling sessions. In the classroom, stick to educated opinions of the text.
Class participation is often only a token part of a course grade. This allows students to slack off, because they don’t have much incentive to engage the material until an exam or paper. Professors should sharply increase the weight of class participation to counter this tendency. But it shouldn’t be a free 20-30% of the course grade; professors should base the grade on the quality of participation, as measured in how well a student demonstrates understanding of the readings and made insightful commentary.
Put another way, the grade should reflect how well the student helped other students master the material. That’s why Admissions works hard to admit a smart and diverse student body: so students can educate each other.
There’s certainly no excuse for professors to be mean-spirited or invective toward students in correcting mistakes, but students don’t need their egos coddled. They are adults, and should be able to maturely handle being told that they’re wrong. And if they’re not able, they’re overdue for that lesson.