Three Weeks Into Student Development

Over the course of reading about some of the theories, I feel like I'm swimming in the deep end and it's not going too well. The theories all seem to run together and I feel that some of the theories are changing the terminology of other theories to make their own theory.

I enjoy learning about the theories and thinking of how they relate to the students I'm working with. When I first started typing that sentence, I was going to follow it up with "I like being able to place these students into the different stages." I realized, I don't like doing that at all, I don't like place people in boxes. It's what is going to happen, but it bugs me on some level. Stereotyping is often discussed, and always in a a negative light, but at the same time, that's what these theories are doing. We are typecasting our students we work with. I guess this doesn't have to be negative, but I feel that were almost playing into preconceived notions students have for themselves, all while telling these students they can be whoever and whatever they want to be.

I like theories, I do, but I also challenge everything I read and everything I do, especially when it comes to working with students. I need to spend more time working with the theories, because they aren't something I'm going to be clear on after reading the chapter and having a few short discussions. I'm excited for the journey I'm on thought. 

The Beginning of a New Semester

As I sit here looking over the syllabi for my classes this semester, I'm struck by one thing. Not only is there a lot more reading, there's more writing as well. Right now, I'm excited about this but in a few short weeks I know it will be something I will be dreading. In the long run I understand the benefits that accompany continuous writing, but in the short run, I want to sleep more. In one of my classes I am asked to do journaling. I will be journaling about my thoughts on theories of student development that we will be covering over the next 16or so weeks. I felt that in order to truly judge my understanding, I would get a head start, so here I am.

Here's what I know about student development theory: when new professionals bring it up in job interviews, the interviewer typically rolls their eyes. Whether this is because is only a cookie cutter answer to quote a theory provided by a textbook or because it shows a lack of originality or one of the other many possibilities I cannot say, but that's what I know about the student development theory. I remember a few different times in class last semester when one of the second years would bring up a theory and say "blah blah blah theory blah." Most of the class was impressed with their knowledge, but I found it to be pretentious and lacking an original thought. Thank you for telling me that you understand a theory, but unless you analyze the current situation prior to throwing around theories, I don't want to hear it. I can Google what the theory says, but I want something more than that, I want to see how that theory applies tot he present conversation. While this may sound like I'm ranting, and yes I may be ranting a little bit, I like theories, I really do. They provided a good framework to begin analyzing conditions and to help make educated decisions. Do all theories work all the time? No. Before someone goes off quoting a theory they learned in grad school, it better be applicable.