Regular readers of this blog will probably remember that I’m a comic book geek. Over the life of this blog, I’ve written about teaching like Batman, searching for rare comics and creating comic books online. This week, I’m going to channel my inner Uncle Ben.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
If you’re a comic book reader, you’ll recognize this quote from the Spider-Man series. Peter Parker’s uncle explains to him that being in a powerful position requires him to use that power responsibly. At the time, Uncle Ben doesn’t know that Peter is actually Spider-Man. He’s more providing some sage advice to the teenager. And then Uncle Ben is tragically killed by someone that Peter Parker/Spider-Man could have stopped earlier in the issue had he only intervened.
I share this quote this week because of the powerful roles we have as teachers. A few years ago, Inside Higher Education featured a study where 100 students were interviewed at an unnamed institution. Undergraduates were more likely to major in a field if they had an inspiring and caring faculty member in an introductory course. Students were also equally likely to write off an entire field if they had a single negative experience with a professor. How we interact with our students can change the course of their academic careers. That’s powerful stuff.
While I’ve shared this research before, the power of our roles has been really apparent to me recently. I’m on “special assignment” this semester as our College of Education adopts new assessments for our teacher candidates. One of the roles of this position is to oversee formal reviews with teacher candidates who have received unsatisfactory assessments. Depending on the nature of the assessment and the circumstances involved, a formal review can result in a teacher candidate being removed from the program. With the serious outcomes at play, a formal review can be a difficult process for teacher candidates.
But it can also be difficult for faculty too. Deciding a student’s academic fate is a harrowing experience and the situations are rarely clear-cut. As we navigate these decisions, we’re faced with the power and the responsibility of our roles. And that brings us to the title of this post. In many cases, we’re still dealing with developing adults. My cognitive science friends like to remind me that a person’s amygdala continues to develop until age 25 or so. The amygdala is the section of the brain that is believed to control risk management and rational decision-making. As we interact with students and influence their futures, we have to handle them with care.
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