CompuServe Messages

Ken, 8-10%!? Gads, I'd stop teaching. JUST KIDDING!!<G> I did say it was a catch 22. I know where you're coming from. I started at the Adult VocEd level and was disappointed with the disparity in the abilities of the raw material I had to work with. I only had one student that I couldn't reach, he worked for a company that converted vehicles for use by challenged individuals. It was disparaging for me at first, but it became obvious that the student did not have the attitude nor the motivation to succeed in the class and I had to live with the fact that a student had actually dropped MY class. I've also had to deal with Retraining Program students from General Motors. These people tend to show up simply because they get paid to do so. It makes things challenging, but remembering that they're more tactile than most gives me a bit of an edge in keeping them interested. I used to be extremely biased in requiring a drafting background in my students at the 2-year school, but I've tempered that tone. Taking for granted that everybody knows what a three view drawing is can lead to problems. Maybe I'm the exception, but I don't allow any student to fail unless that student walks out on me. My teaching methods have been called into question as being too aggressive (even belittling), but I do get the attention of my students and tenaciously drag them through the pitfalls this software presents us. It's such wonderful therapy, and they pay me to do it!