Extra Credit for Voting?

I've been contemplating giving my students extra credit for voting in the November election, but I have a few questions I'm wrestling with before I decide for sure. Here's what I've considered so far:

I asked my students in class today who was registered to vote, and everyone raised their hands. (Yay! I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised.) This alleviates initial concerns I had about this extra credit assignment being unfair for students who are not registered to vote and/or do not request an absentee ballot in time. (Actually, I'm not entirely sure how the student voting thing works -- I believe that students can register either in their home precinct or in their school precinct, but I'm not sure about that.)

Then there is the issue of how to prove that they voted. I suggested that they take an index card with them and ask one of the poll volunteers to confirm that they had voted by signing it, but some of my students suggested that volunteers in busy precincts might be unwilling/unable to do this.

Someone else suggested bringing me their "I voted" stickers, but those seem easy enough to procure even if you don't actually vote.

Another student suggested taking a photo of the ballot with their camera phone, or of themselves outside of the precinct, but the point was quickly raised that this was probably illegal.

So, what do you think? Is this a good idea, or are there too many logistical problems? Have you ever given your students extra credit for voting? If so, what proof of voting did you require? I really like the idea of providing incentive for my students to be politically active (whatever their affiliation), especially in such a crucial election, but I'm not sure about the specifics of how I might do this. Thoughts?

More on Student Writing

I read last week's post about student writing with great interest (although obviously without enough energy to actually comment).

I am one of those professors who assumes that students should be able to write when they get to me (sorry, Velma). I am constantly annoyed by students who do not know how to use punctuation, capitalization, or even paragraph breaks in the appropriate manner. While I am happy to assist them with synthesizing, making connections, and critically analyzing academic literature, I really don't think it's my job to explain that a group of words with no verb does not a sentence make.

I feel vindicated by an article in today's Chronicle about the new SAT writing section and its ability to predict student success.

The authors point out that the SAT may not be a perfect predictor of success, but when teamed with other methods of assessment can prove valuable for college admissions:

Among their findings: When controlling for other factors, such as level of parental education, each 100-point increase on the SAT writing section correlated, on average, with gains of 0.07 on first-year grade-point averages, 0.18 on grade-point averages in freshman English courses, and 0.54 in credit-hours earned.

"While the scores are imperfect," the researchers wrote in a working paper on the study, "taken together with high-school GPA, other portions of standardized tests, AP credit, and noncognitive variables, they clearly help predict first-year student academic achievement.

Certainly, the increases found are small (but significant). I'm left wondering, however, what the writing portion of the SAT actually measures--is it the ability to construct a sentence using the rules of English, or the ability to analyze and critically assess a problem using those skills? I suppose those are questions best left to the researchers in the College of Education.

As a final note, I leave you with the ever-so-wise opinion of Calvin.

*Any spelling or grammatical errors in this essay are the fault of the New Jersey Public School System, and not the author herself.

Warm Fuzzies

This week's batch of secrets from PostSecret featured a lovely reminder of why teaching can be such a gratifying and rewarding profession:

Another Final Four, Another Riot

...and this year, we're not even playing in the championship.

An MSU undergrad thought it would be a good idea to reestablish "Cedar Fest", a party that was banned by East Lansing in 1987 after too many public disturbances.

Here's a peek at how crowded things were last night. Here's the tear gas.

There has been considerable debate lately about what to do with the Cedar Village area. The City of East Lansing wants to redevelop the entire area into "East Village"--the area bounded by Bogue Street, Grand River Avenue, Harrison Road, and the river itself. Some students have protested, claiming the city just wants to increase rent and drive most students farther away from campus.

Incidents like this just give the City more reason to flatten the entire area.

U of M Offers Bullsh*t Independent Studies to Athletes

This just in: at the University of Michigan, athletes can take independent studies with virtually no work.

As a bonus, even though the independent studies are monitored by a Psychology professor, the topic doesn't even have to BE psychology!! How about "Study Habits", "Using a Day Planner" or "Taking Notes"? Even "Time Management" is available to those seeking to attend the University of Michigan as a student-athlete.

In three years, Professor John Hagen has taught 294 independent studies, most with student-athletes. That's almost 100 per year--how could this possibly be anything other than a blowoff class? This professor states that these students are not simply taking his independent studies courses to remain eligible. He bristles at the suggestion that students are doing anything but honest-to-goodness academic work.

To quote from Seth Meyers and Amy Poheler: REALLY!?!

When these students have a cumulative 2.57 GPA but average a 3.62 in your "independent studies"?? REALLY?

When they only have to meet with you every other week for 15 minutes, or even just through email? REALLY?

When students are allowed to add the independent study when the semester is almost over? That's not an attempt to get last minute high grades to increase GPA? REALLY?!?

(By the way, Professor Hagen, those are some good seats you've got for Michigan basketball...)

Unfortunately, this is a pervasive problem at large institutions with nationally-ranked sports programs. We've probably all heard jokes about athletes taking "Underwater Basketweaving" or "Rocks for Jocks", and the fact that this still occurs is upsetting. The University of Georgia was outed for giving bullsh*t exams to student-athletes in a physical education course. Even my beloved institution of employment has encountered these problems in the past. Our solution was to clean house--I wonder what (if anything) will happen at U of M.

As a sports fan and supporter of all of our students who engage in extra-curricular activities, I have a great deal of sympathy for these kids--they work for hours in the weight room each week, they get up early for morning practices, and they travel around the country to compete. Unfortunately, that does not entitle them to a free pass on their education.

This raises another issue--as professors, we support our teams and support our student-athletes; however, when does that support cross the line into favoritism? I hold season tickets to both football and basketball, but make sure the athletes in my classes are graded fairly (in fact, I never tell my students I have season tickets to ANYTHING). I follow university regulations about when students are allowed to miss class and when they are not. I insist on seeing signed letters from the Athletic Department (or any other organization) before excusing students from class or allowing to make-up an exam. And I never, EVER conduct independent studies unless the student comes to me with a specific idea and they have already taken a course from me in the past.

March Madness indeed...

Spring Break and Risky Decision-Making

I just came across an article on MSNBC.COM about how students on spring break in Texas are avoiding Mexican border towns in light of increased drug-related violence.

So here's a question: how many times in your life have you looked back on past events and thought, "what in the HELL was I thinking?" (And then later, my mother would probably still kill me if she knew I ever did that....)

Anyway, when I was a sophomore at the University of Texas in1988, my roommate and I agreed to go to South Padre Island for spring break with a group of her friends that I barely knew. They seemed OK and were in the marching band, so how much trouble could we get in to? (Come on, I was in the marching band in high school, I know the score.)

At the last minute, she dropped out of the trip and I was left to travel 6.5 hours by car to SPI with a group of near strangers (Thanks a lot, Jill!!). Her friends turned out to be fine, but unfortunately the weather was not--the cold, gray skies lasted all week and nixed our beach plans. The first night, the gang wanted to go to Matamoros, across the border in Mexico. We were early arrivals and the towns were still quiet--not yet flooded with UT and A&M students on break.

So, we crossed the Rio Grande and entered the first bar we found. It was like a scene from a movie--we walk in, the music stops, and everyone turns to stare at us. We're all dressed in our 80's pastels and big hair and the room is full of local Mexican workers, probably enjoying their last night in town until it's taken over by obnoxious American students. There was even a guy in the corner--I kid you not--playing a game which entails holding on to electrodes for as long as you can. I was freaked out--my New Jersey upbringing had not prepared me for this. We ordered some Dos Equis, drank our beer quickly and crossed back immediately thereafter.

Two days later, the town was COMPLETELY different--it was a tourist trap, with loud music, cheap goods for sale, and alcohol everywhere. The gang decided they wanted to go deep, deep, DEEP into Matamoros since the beach was not going to happen, so we hailed a taxi and told him to take us into the town to a decent restaurant. We ate lunch in a place with dirt floors and live chickens running around--it was a hoot. However, 20 years later I look at the satellite picture of Matamoros above, and think--MY GOD, that city is SO BIG--who knows where we were or what might have happened. And of course, we didn't have cell phones back then--no one knew I was there (they knew I was in South Padre, but none of my family members knew I would visit Mexico on the trip).

Anyway, we ended up having a fun time and the friends-of-Jill were pretty cool. We came back to Austin and got back to our studies.

The following year (1989), I stayed in Austin for spring break and slept late every day. Watching the news one night, I caught a story about Mark Kilroy, a UT student who was reported missing in Matamoros. He was a junior, as was I, and he had wandered away from his friends to take a leak in an adjacent alley. A few minutes later, he was gone.

They searched for him and questioned over 100 known criminals for weeks, until finally, someone picked up on a routine drug sting provided evidence to the police that led to Mark. He had been abducted and murdered in a satanic worship ceremony on a ranch outside Matamoros. The description of what they did to him is not for the faint of heart.

Perhaps the saddest part of this story is that many Mexicans were also killed by this Satanic group, few of which received any attention from the Mexican government until Mark. It took the murder of a U.S. citizen for them to recognize the dozens of murders that had already taken place and seek out the offenders. The "mastermind" of the group eventually committed suicide just as he was about to be arrested.

I didn't know Mark, but I've been thinking about how to tie his story to our field's study of risk and victimization. He placed himself at risk by visiting a border town, likely drinking too much, wandering away from his friends, and pissing in an alley. Natalee Holloway similarly took risks, purportedly leaving a bar with a man she had just met. How many hundreds (or thousands) of stupid, drunk college students make similar risky decisions and are luckily to survive to the next day? How many of those students are raped or assaulted as a result of their risky behavior? How many stupid risks have I personally taken in my life, and somehow have emerged unscathed?

Food for thought. Perhaps the ShockSpouse will share his thoughts on the Kilroy incident as well.

"Our Nation's Greatest Injustice"

The most recent issue of Grand Valley Magazine, the quarterly publication of GVSU (my alma mater) featured an inspiring story about several GV alumni who have joined Teach For America, an organization that places exceptional, motivated recent college graduates in 2-year teaching positions in disadvantaged urban and rural public schools. Teach For America recruits academically gifted graduates from all majors who demonstrate excellent leadership skills. The program also has a firm commitment to diversity, prioritizing the recruitment of people of color and people from low-income family backgrounds. Once selected, corps members spend 2 years teaching in a low-income school, guiding and mentoring students who face daunting educational obstacles.

Calling educational inequality "our nation's greatest injustice," the program's website states:

[W]e see evidence every day in classrooms across the country that when students in low-income communities are given the educational opportunities they deserve, they excel.

It is this - the clear potential of students - that makes the disparities in educational outcomes so unconscionable and fuels our sense of urgency and responsibility to do everything we can to ensure educational opportunity for all.

This is a noble and extremely important effort, in my opinion. If you have bright and talented students in your classes who are undecided about what to do after graduation, please consider sharing with them information about the Teach For America program.

Criminology Limericks, Vol. 2

Well, it is that time in the semester again: time for criminology limericks. So this semester I decided to do something a little different. I gave my students about 15 minutes at the end of class today to write their poems using criminological concepts. I told them that I would chose three of the best and post them to this blog and let you all choose the best of the best (I ended up selecting 4). I am giving the winning student an extra credit point, so my students are counting on your vote! Please comment on which one you like the best! Thanks!

Student A

Everyone has the same goals in life;
We all want money, power, and maybe even a husband or wife.
The problem is that everyone’s opportunities are not the same,
Individuals are stressed, strained, and end up doing something lame.
These people turn to crime through illegitimate avenues and some even use a knife.

Student B

There was once a theorist who went by the name Merton.
The social structure of American society was to blame for crime he was certain.
Achieving wealth and status became the main goal,
But this just caused people to feel like they were stuck in a hole,
And in the end the whole American society ends up hurtin’

Student C

There was a rough side of the city,
Some of the buildings were quite shitty.
Because of the high turnover,
The buildings would often get looked over.
Crime now runs this community.

Student D

Hirschi and Gottfredson have a general theory of crime,
That if your parents rear you right they can save you in time.
Unfortunately for them it fails to explain,
Why white-collar criminals use their brain.
Perhaps their theory ain’t worth a dime.

What would you do? Reflecting on NIU

The recent events at NIU have created an element of uneasiness among many of us. After Virginia Tech last year, I was comforted by the fact that deadly acts on college campuses were extremely rare and geographically distant, at least from me. “It could never happen to me,” I reasoned. Maybe it also helps that those of us who study criminal justice issues can (or at least should be able to) look at the problem rationally and therefore realize that the likelihood of victimization on campus is very low.

Since last week, however, I have found myself questioning how insulated I actually am from that kind of incident. (I applied to NIU when I was on the market, so I easily could have been there.) Today I read an article in the Duluth News Tribune that detailed an incident that happened at the University of Minnesota in Duluth this morning:

Assistant Professor Pedro Albuquerque was teaching his Principles of Macroeconomics class about 9:15 a.m. when he noticed a man he didn’t recognize as a student staring at him in a way that caught his attention.

A 36-year-old Duluth man who later was found to have a 6- to 8-inch wooden stick and a leather whip was removed from a University of Minnesota Duluth lecture hall after concerned students called police this morning.

So, the question is: what would you do if you saw someone acting suspicious in your classroom? I teach an intro section of 120 students, and am unsure if I would even notice someone who didn’t belong. For the first time, this semester I have a seating chart for that class, so maybe I would. Even if you did become aware of someone who wasn't supposed to be in your class or observe a student acting odd, how would you respond? Would you intervene? Would you call campus police? I often leave my cell phone in my office during class though I also know that it typically doesn’t work in our big, interior, lecture hall. Would you confront the individual?

I don’t have any answers, so I am looking for your thoughts. Have you experienced anything that concerned you in the classroom? Should professors be allowed to carry concealed weapons or tasers or be taught self-defense? Should we lock classroom doors while class is in session? Perhaps at the beginning of the semester we should establish a “secret word” or duress signal of some kind that would alert students to quietly leave and call the police. Should we have drills to practice for this unlikely scenario much like we prepare for fires or tornados?

By the way, as many of you know, I also applied for a job at UMD back in the day. Seems like I am narrowly escaping these unpleasant incidents…

Cheating on Exams

When it comes to exam time for your students, what do Team Bynum members do? Do you all walk around the classroom? Make sure there is an empty space between students? Make sure students turn their caps backwards? Do you stand in front of the class with your arms crossed, carefully observing the moment of everyone while they work on their exams? This is a really good discussion thread posted by a security expert I admire.

"Entertaining" vs. "Engaging" Students

I stumbled across this blog this morning that discusses the difference between "entertaining" and "engaging" students. Doug Johnson, a school tech guy from MN, makes these distinctions:

Entertainment's primary purpose is to create an enjoyable experience; engagement's primary purpose is to focus attention so learning occurs.

Entertainment is ephemeral, often frivolous; engagement creates long-lasting results and deals with important issues.

Entertainment needs have little relevance to the the reader/watcher/listener; engagement experiences most often relate directly to the learner.

Entertainment is an escape from problems; engagement involves solving problems.

Entertainment results through the creativity of others; engagement asks for creativity on the part of the learner.

Perhaps the greatest distinction is that entertainment is often passive, whereas engagment is active or interactive.

While the post is directed toward teens and middle or high school teachers, I think we can learn a thing or two when trying to capture and maintain the attention of our students. This is something that Scooby laments about regularly. Though I try hard to be 'fun' in the classroom, sometimes I even agree with him that we're not hired to be a dog and pony show.

Blogger Participation Post: Influential Readings

I received a very nice e-mail the other day from a former student, who shared with me how influential my classes had been in shaping her views of crime and justice issues.  (All together now...aww!)  In both of the classes in which I had her as a student, I assigned a lot of readings dealing with issues of social justice, power and privilege, and systems of inequality (race, class, gender, etc.).  Typically, these are not issues that the average CJ undergrad has explored in great detail, so I find it very rewarding to hear that exposure to critical scholarship challenges students to think differently about crime than perhaps they had before.  

This got me thinking about the readings from grad school that were most influential to me, and those that continue to inform my research and teaching years after having read them. I thought it might be interesting for each of us to share in the comments section which readings (from grad school or otherwise) most inspire or influence us. I'll go first.    

Hello? Anyone?

Where is everyone? Is there some big deadline coming up that I missed? Is everyone with Scooby and buried in the snow?

Anyone?

I went back to classes today. I really like Spring semester as I usually teach classes that are an extension of my Fall semester classes. Both of my classes are relatively small, and I know nearly everyone. Good news.

I have realized that working with Ph.D. students is much like parenting. You really care about each student, and they are all unique in their own way. At the same time, it can be very hard to make tough calls. This is what I have been struggling with as of late. It is easier to let people move through the program with little event, but it is the struggles that make you a good scholar - make you really want it. I am struggling with all the student struggling.

Year-in-Review: Plagiarism Edition

I know we probably all discuss plagiarism in our classes (and, on more occasions than we'd prefer, have to deal with students who have plagiarized papers and assignments). Nonetheless, I was a bit surprised by this 2007 tally of press plagiarism incidents. Print media outlets ranging from university newspapers to the New York Times issued retractions or fired staffers this year for plagiarizing stories, underscoring that it's not just lazy undergrads who pilfer others' written work and pass it off as their own.

Thanks to HuffPost for the link.

Student Comments

Again from Scatterplot - an interesting story on student heckling. Check it out. A student handed in a fake paper containing commentary on the professor and class content. Anyone have similar stories to share?

I had a heckler my first semester here and was the recipient of a long, nasty email (I wish I had saved it). Most of the time my comments are similar to my yearbook signatures - she is nice - stay sweet :)

This semester I asked students (as extra credit) to name the female guest speaker who came to class. One student noted - I don't know her name but she was blond and pretty like Dr. Velma. Funny, but my TA does the grading, and he is not swayed by nice comments.

Criminology Limericks

As many of you know I have my students do an in-class thing where they write a criminology limerick. You remember: AABBA. Anyway, I only give them about 15 minutes to spend on this, but the goal is to get them to think about the material in a different way. And maybe they will remember it better because it rhymes. Who knows. Here are a couple of the notable ones:

The traditional view of theories of strain
Claim everyone has a goal of wealth to gain
Those who cannot
Choose to commit crime alot
And journey through live in vain

Cohen had a theory of strain
That said some kids turn to gangs
It was based on middle class measuring rods
With values of money and legitimate jobs
But without proper means it was status to gain

Matza talked about delinquency and drift
He argued that criminal behavior involved a shift
When bonds become weak
Criminal behavior will peak
And from jail they will need a lift

Sesame Street & Student Papers

This afternoon I was spending some quiet time and watching Sesame Street with the girls. Like most of you, probably, I'm always pleased when one of the classic musical shorts from my youth appears in one of the contemporary episodes. Like, say, the ultra-dramatic "Milk" mini-film. (Milk. MI-ilk! Milk.) Or the slightly creepy, petal-lashed orange that sings the aria from Carmen. Or Teeny Little Super Guy. (You can't tell a hero by his size. He's just a teeny, little, super guy!)

Anywhoodle, the episode we watched today featured this short: Beginning, Middle, and End. (Sorry, embedding is disabled for this clip, so you'll have to follow the link.)

While I don't actually remember this clip (it aired in 1989, well past my SS viewing days), my adult self appreciates the Talking Heads parody that undoubtedly would have gone right over my youthful head. At any rate, watching this clip had me half-tempted to make it required viewing for my students before they turn in writing assignments for me. We all know how abysmal students' writing skills are these days, so why not force upon them a Talking Heads-lampooning, psychedelically-animated music video that hammers home what my lectures, writing guides, and web tips apparently cannot: your papers must have a beginning, a middle, and an end!

Whaddya think? Is it worth a shot?

Funny Student Email

We get these all of the time. Emails that make you laugh or cry or wince or whatever. I got this one over the weekend. It reminded me of a comment Ed McGarrell made in class once: "Who is Sean McKay? Never heard of him." Anyway, here is the email from one of my theory students:

"Hi Mr. Patchin, I am writing my paper topic on Moffitt's life-course-persistent criminals. While doing more research I noticed that he has another theory that kinda goes hand in hand. Its called adolesent-limited theory. Do you think that if I do both the topic would be too broad?"

It's just a good thing we haven't yet discussed Moffitt or Developmental theories...

Living (and Fighting) in a YouTube World

This morning CNN.com has a link to this story out of Ohio, describing how a video of two junior high girls fist-fighting in a locker room wound up on YouTube.

Here's what disturbs me about this incident: it's not that two adolescent girls got into a (pretty decent) fight. It's that another girl actually stood by and videotaped it! It makes me wonder: was it their intention to post the video on YouTube from the get go? If the fight had been recorded with a cameraphone, I'd say maybe it was spontaneous...but the footage appears to have been filmed with an actual video camera, suggesting premeditation (of both the video uploading as well as the fight itself).

For the second time in as many weeks I am left to wonder: is this just the way things are in today's instant-information society? Unlike the (long lost) days of my youth in which even pre-arranged fights ("Outside by the bike rack at 3:30!") required little actual planning, do preparations to beat another kid's ass at school nowadays include double-checking the video camera batteries?

I am reminded of celebrities' need to be "camera ready" at all times -- even if they just want to run out in their jammies for coffee on a Sunday morning -- because the paparazzi are a mercilessly relentless and constant presence in their lives. Has that same mentality infiltrated adolescent culture, too? Is there a constant awareness among youth when fights like this happen that the whole thing might be "YouTube-worthy"? Did the girl in Ohio wear her cutest skinny jeans the day of the fight, anticipating that the whole world would see images of her online? Pap & Patch can speculate far more knowledgeably than I can, but I would guess that the answer is yes, especially given that another student was there carefully documenting the entire thing...

Dude! I Need a Pink Gun

"Females want to shoot guns, but they want them to look pretty, too. Guys could give a rat's butt what their gun looks like." - Jim Astle, owner of Jim's Gun Supply in Baraboo, talking about pink firearms

Here is an interesting story from the Journal Sentinal - http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=666096

I actually had one of my students complain that she wouldn't be able to carry a pink firearm when she was permanently employed with probation and parole. Hmm. I am really psyched about my pink phone and pink iPod, but I don't think I will make a pink gun purchase in the near future. Wouldn't a pink gun stand out when you are hunting? Could you also get pink bullets?