Okay, so I don't know what, is there somebody
who ever explains to students what office hours
are? I'm realizing that every single semester
I have to tell students, especially ones that
are first coming into college, I have to explain
to them what office hours are. I'm wondering
if they just don't have it in high school. I
should ask my brother if these things actually
exist. Yeah, like students don't actually come
to my office hours as much as I would like. I
would like to be very busy during my office hours,
but not enough of them come. And I've been asking
them exactly why, and I've gotten a range of
responses, so I'm trying to kind of clear the
air on exactly what these things are. So faculty
members in college are required to have office
hours where they are required to be in their
office and available to students during those
set hours. They usually are drop -in, so you
don't even need to make an appointment. You just
show up. I usually am sitting in my office twiddling
my thumbs during this period because a lot of
students don't show up. And I cannot understand
for the life of me why students wouldn't want
to take advantage of it. And the reason I say
this is I don't think students realize just how
valuable this particular time is. If I were to
put a dollar amount on how much I would charge
a student for one hour with me in that sort of
setting, just chatting about whatever, it could
be about life, it could be about courses or whatever.
If I was in the private sector and I had to charge
students, I would charge anywhere from $200 to
$300 in an hour. That's how much I would charge.
I think that might be kind of close to how some
of these faculty members are paid, but they are
possibly more, maybe less if you're like a lecturer.
But, you know, like it's still quite a bit of
money and you're letting that money kind of go
down the drain by not taking advantage of these
office hours. You know, faculty. My experience
has been most faculty want to be there for their
students. They care. There are a few, you know,
in research institutions, there might be a few
that are so focused on their research. But even
then, you know, if you're talking about something,
I mean, I'm assuming that you're going to go
in and talk to the faculty member about something
that they're teaching, I'm guessing, or something
adjacent to it. It's going to be something they're
passionate about anyway and they want to talk
about, right? Think of it as like not necessarily
doing them a favor, but they're not going to
be mad at you for showing up to office hours
in most cases. Right. Most of them love having
students over and having these conversations.
And I think probably the biggest thing is that
these office hours are a chance for you to get
good quality, like one on one or small setting,
you know, more intimate sort of engagement with
the faculty member. And I think it does a couple
of things. One. You see that a faculty member
is not anything particularly special. They're
a human being like anyone else, okay? In fact,
going to their office could be really eye -opening.
I've been to some of my own professors and going
to their office and being like, ooh, wow, I see
the disorienting nature of the work that you
do or maybe the way that you organize your office
because things are all over the place versus
like faculty members. I'm like, whoa, super organized
and they look like they're really on top of it,
right? I think you also gain a lot in terms of
not just the exposure to that more intimate setting,
but through that, you gain a deeper insight both
into the topics that you might be discussing,
but also into getting to know one another. And
that's probably going to be the most important
thing. Like, I mean, I'm assuming that a lot
of students actually will want or need to look
for letters of recommendation at some point.
And it's really hard to write a letter of recommendation
or to connect with a student or to work with
a student to help them out. I have a really hard
time being there for a student that I don't really
know very well. And it's not necessarily because
I don't want to be there for them in the ways
that is appropriate. It's that sometimes I don't
know because I just don't know the student well
enough. And office hours are the opportunity
to really get to know them. Even if it's just
career -oriented, it doesn't have to be anything
deeply personal, right? But it could be things
like things that they're interested in and things
that they want to pursue later on after school.
projects that they're working on outside of the
classroom, right? Getting to know these little
tidbits can be really useful and it really opens
up the door for the kind of connections that
I think will serve students well later down the
line. And in the worst case scenario, there's
no necessarily any like exchange or benefit that
you gain from it other than just simply getting
to know somebody else. Right. There's a joy in
kind of hearing from different experiences and
learning from other people's experiences. And
I'm going to I think I really want to encourage
specifically students that are I mean, with community
college students is a little bit different in
the way that I connect with the students. But
I remember teaching at these research universities
and thinking, you know, like it would be really
nice if. the students had connections to people
that were not other college students. It's been
a thought of mine that has, it's a thought that
crossed my mind a lot of times when I would think,
man, I wish that these 18 to 22 year olds, right,
which majority would be, would hang out with
people that are not 18 to 22 year olds. outside
of like family, right? Like we'll see with community
college students, they have access to, because
of their, you know, their life circumstances.
Most of them are connecting with fellow students,
but they're also holding down a job. And so they're,
you know, in the professional setting with people
that are older than them, that have different
life experiences, that have longer life experiences.
They're probably not necessarily living in dorms
and confined to an environment where it's just
a bunch of 18 and 22 year olds. And so as a result,
they stay a little bit more grounded, I feel
like. I'm not saying that this is like somehow
like professors are going to be like you're grounding
in these sorts of things. But I think it's always
helpful to engage with people outside of just
fellow college students, right? This is why I
think a lot of students, a lot of people in the
workforce, a lot of employers might feel like
college students straight out of college don't
feel like genuine professionals. It's probably
because they haven't engaged with anybody outside
of their age group in a really long time. Now,
the exceptions I've seen, and I saw this back
in college too, students who are heavily involved
in the alumni program were very good at engaging
with... Different people from different backgrounds,
different age groups, different generations.
They were very good at it because that's part
of their job. That's what they kind of did a
lot of as part of the alumni program is that
they would connect with alumni, people who are
much older than them. And if you don't have those
opportunities to kind of interact, then, you
know, at least your instructors are kind of a
good place to start. Now, I understand that there
is a power dynamic, but at the same time, like.
They're being paid to be there for you, right?
That's what office hours are. They're being paid
to be there for you. It's almost like somebody
gave you money for free tutoring. You just need
to show up during those times, right? So take
advantage of it, right? Get your money's worth.
Stop by, all right? You know... If you feel uncomfortable
about it, my recommendation is come in with a
set of questions about the class or about certain
topics that were interesting to you. It shouldn't
necessarily have to be about an assignment. And
you should generally stop by before it comes
time to, you know, exam periods, right? Like
you should go when it's just like a middle of
a week when you just learn something, discuss
something new, and you're not particularly clear
on it. You can make it about the subject as a
starting point. But, you know, feel free to also
expand the conversation to other things. I can't
guarantee and got to play it by ear. It depends
on the particular instructor. From my experiences,
most of them just love engaging with students.
That's been my experience. So, you know, give
it a shot. Have a normal human conversation with
somebody, right? That doesn't deal with, like,
you know, schoolwork necessarily, right? Try
to get to know a little bit about them. Brush
up on your social skills. I don't know. But in
the end, please, come by my office hours. It's
very lonely there. Very often.