Professional Student Guide

PSG 101 Entitlement - Part 2 - Entitlement was an issue we explored in our last PSG. We are expanding on that topic by discussing how students feel they know more about subject material and how instructors should teach. This is kind of a funny "educational paradox" where the student believes him or her self to know more than the instructor. Instructors are themselves industry professionals and not only teach but practice what they teach in the professional world. In fact, this is a requirement of the instructor’s employment. In order for a student to become a professional, a continuous cycle of listening and watching other professionals is crucial to success.

The teacher / student relationship is the most complicated lesson learned in college. The misunderstanding on the student end is the amount of work required of them. Observed, consumer culture is migrating into our education. Instead of the instructor explaining and guiding through the process of learning, students are demanding what they want to learn and how they want to receive that information. These demands stress the student/teacher relationship. How can a seasoned professional deliver their knowledge if the perception is that the person delivering the knowledge is unable to perform their job? The limited amount of time given to instructors to teach, what generally takes years to perfect, makes it impossible to cover everything. Four hours in the day and eleven weeks is just enough time to fully explain basic techniques or integrate details of creating a film, once. The majority of learning takes place outside of the classroom doing projects that practice what is taught in the classroom.

College learning is about mentorship and relationships. Students need to do much of their learning on their own under the guidance of the teacher. The teacher’s role is to say if the student is heading in the right direction. Making the leap from a high school style education to college education is difficult for some students. Students can not expect instructors to spoon feed them the information. What you are paying for in your continued education is the investment in yourself to be a professional. As students, we must learn to be a student and take charge of our education.

Advice – Always listen to someone who claims to be a professional in the field. Their accomplishments will speak to their expertise.