I am sure I am not the only person who thinks this way and I know I’m in the minority, but I really dislike stories like this. I would be peeved if I paid thousands of dollars to attend school and had a professor who was teaching class while holding a baby. The problem with this is where does this end? What if a student is the sole caretaker for an elderly grandparent and their nurse called in sick and they couldn’t find anybody else? Would they be able to bring the grandparent to class? What if a single parent who is taking night classes and couldn’t find childcare at night or couldn’t afford childcare? Would he/she be able to bring their kids with them the whole semester? The list goes on and on.
Is she only taking one class? What about her other professors?
These quotes are really disturbing to me and she sounds very entitled:
"I literally started crying because it’s just so rare, especially teachers in general nowadays. They care to help the students and their obligations outside of the classroom. The fact that somebody was just willing to work with me and to excuse me from the quiz I missed and how to get caught up on that assignment, it just showed that she cared more about, not that I missed class that day. She really just wants me to succeed in that class,” said King.
This isn’t middle school or maybe even high school. Professors don’t care what obligations you have outside of the classroom and they shouldn’t cater to your needs. And no, I don’t think she should have been excused and I would be upset if I was a student in that class.
Also, I was just curious and clicked on her Twitter account. Of course she has over 60,000 tweets. I wonder who is taking care of the baby while she is manning all her social media accounts.
I think it’s great. Sounds like a professor who cares about educating students and seeing them get ahead and realizes that some students have obstacles that might get in the way sometimes. Kudos to the prof and for the young mother for trying to better herself. It does take a village sometimes. I prefer to err on the side of helping others when possible and applaud those with a generous heart and those who are open to being flexible to help others succeed.
Members of congress used to bring their babies to work. There were pictures of them in desk drawers. People thought it was very women’s lib of them at the time (1970s). I thought even then it wasn’t a long term solution as 6 month olds don’t sleep quietly in a drawer.
I am all for helping others, but where does it stop? What if 1/3 of the class wanted to bring their kids and babies to class? In my opinion, it’s not a professor’s job to be generous or care about what obstacles their students have outside of the classroom because they have more important things to do. The reason I feel that way is because if you are generous with one student you have to be generous with the next student and that opens up a cans of worms.
“What if 1/3 of the class wanted to bring their kids and babies to class?”
But it’s not happening, is it? So why make a big deal out of it. Perhaps if that WAS the situation, the school would consider some kind of student day care option. Since, it’s not happening, why take a nice gesture and turn it into a negative? I don’t get that thinking.
“it’s not a professor’s job”
It’s the prof’s job to determine that or not and she surely didn’t seem to mind.
Again, better to be a helper than a naysayer in my book.
Again, if you help one student you have to help all the students and when you bend rules for one student you have to bend the rules for the all the students.
I had a great professor back in college and he was a very nice man but on the first day of class he said he didn’t care what responsibilities we had outside of the classroom. He didn’t want to hear about them and he wasn’t going to bend the rules for anybody. This is how it should be. She chose to have a child while in college, so she has to accept those responsibilities. If she can’t handle both, then take a break. She sure has time tweeting 60,000 times.
This has nothing with being “negative” or being a “naysayer”.
Perhaps this professor’s class rules are that babies in the classroom are perfectly fine. Who says it is breaking any rules? Can you point to a rule in the university policy disallowing it? Barring a university rule, each professor is entitled to run the class the way they wish. If students don’t care for it, don’t take that professor’s classes. Such decisions are made all the time for all kids of reasons - boring, too easy, too hard, whatever.
Sounds like a one off situation not a reoccurring problem. Most parents who work find themselves in such a situation at one point or another. I know my husband and I sure did. Understanding and flexible bosses (and professors) are much appreciated.
Using words like “really dislike”, “peeved”, “really disturbing”, “entitled” - sounds pretty negative in my opinion.
From the linked story:
“King has had a tough time recently. She lost her mother to breast cancer last year and she’s working hard to finish her degree. The class she missed was a child and family studies class. King says she wants to work with children with special needs.”
Bouders: Why is it appropriate? It seems more distracting than anything else.
Professors shouldn’t care about why a student can’t attend class because if you give an exception to one student you have to give an exception to all students.
Let’s say another student missed class because they slept through their alarm. Let’s say another was late because of traffic on the freeway. The list can go on and on. Should those students be excused? This is why professors should have a no exception rule. It doesn’t matter if you can’t find a babysitter for your baby, slept through your alarm, or traffic on the freeway. You have to accept the consequences for your actions.
Actually, you’ve referred to “rules” several times in your posts here including this one: " if you help one student you have to help all the students and when you bend rules for one student you have to bend the rules for the all the students."
Doschicos: I was referring to her being excused, meaning bending the rules for her to have an excuse for not showing up to class. Like I said before, if you help one student you have to help all students and, in my experience, that’s when things get out of hand. Would another student be excused for oversleeping, etc.? This is why I stated before there should be a no exception policy.
“In the event of an emergency, and if there are no other alternatives, parent employees may have children present in the workplace for brief periods of time provided the parent obtains the immediate supervisor’s prior approval. Similarly, in the event of an emergency, and if there are no other alternatives, parent students may have children present in the classroom for brief periods of time provided the parent obtains the instructor’s prior approval. Such arrangements are only to be temporary in nature and may be granted only in circumstances where the employee and supervisor or the student and professor have considered and satisfactorily addressed the factors set forth in paragraph 3 below. When authorized, the parent employee/student must supervise the child(ren) at all times and should not leave such child(ren) in the custody of another University employee or student, even for brief periods of time.”
The key word is BRIEF.
Also, as stated above, the child shouldn’t be supervised by anybody else.
Lord. Rule or no rule, sometimes a little bit of common sense and compassion have to win out. If the University of Colorado really thinks that it would be a violation of policy for a parent on campus to allow another person to hold their child, well than that’s just stupid, and the problem is with the rule – as I’m pretty sure they’d learn if anyone actually tried to enforce it to that extent. But as this did not happen at the University of Colorado, it is not all that relevant.
I agree that allowing student or faculty to bring babies to class on a regular basis wouldn’t be sustainable. That isn’t what happened here, and frankly I’m not sure why it is all that distracting for the professor to be holding a baby. I have rational conversations with parents holding babies all the time (parents managing toddlers or young children is a different story)! It really isn’t that big a deal.
The rules are in place just to cover themselves in case of a lawsuit. Let’s say for some reason the professor supervising the baby accidentally injuries the child. We are a country that likes to sue, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the student would sue the University.
The professor said she could bring her baby with her anytime she doesn’t have childcare.
You’re not sure why it would be distracting for the professor to be teaching a class while holding a baby? REALLY??
Have you ever had a conversation with somebody holding a baby for an hour and a half (let’s just say that’s how long the class is) without any interruptions or distractions? I would guess no.
That’s not what was stated. There is a different between holding as child and supervising a child.
“When authorized, the parent employee/student must supervise the child(ren) at all times and should not leave such child(ren) in the custody of another University employee or student, even for brief periods of time.”
It’s not a bother to me, it’s just a discussion. Like I stated before if you cater to one student you have to cater to them all. In that class if another student oversleeps are they excused? If they are late because of traffic are they excused?
My point is when you cater to one student a whole can of worms is opened.
The fact that some people think that it wouldn’t be distracting and it’s ok for a professor to teach a class holding a student’s baby makes me shake my head.