when they first ask me if I can serve as a referee, I tell students that they must check with ANY potential referee by asking "Can you give me a GOOD reference?", not just a reference. I also send them a standard file w/advice on what I need to see, sending me a reminder etc etc. So the first warning is part of a pile of advice and is given before I confirm whether I can give them one. This is probably lost on some, who assume that by being my usual friendly self I am implying I can give them a good one! In practice, I know most of our students are not going to be linguists and need some kind of a reference to get a job or volunteering post etc, so I am happy to give almost anybody a non-harmful letter, but I reserve enthusiasm for those I think deserve it (and, let's face it, those who didn't really deserve it but tried hard and enlisted my sympathy).
Weldon's point that "a student’s application materials will speak for themselves" cuts both ways - for me it means I might as well write them a letter. The % of letters which really require me to think hard about the person and their work is small (mostly my MA and PhD students whom I already know well anyhow). I don't spend hours racking my brains for anyone - I have written hundreds, kept them all, and use them as a template. For many cases as Dave says NOT having a letter means no job; having one means the hirer has to make up their mind, which is fine by me. She also says "for my letters to mean something, I have to claim my right to say no ", but this end (meaningfulness) can be accomplished by the content and tone of a letter - indeed that is what recipients expect from us. If you don't believe in their potential, don't say positive things about it. Do we really mind if somebody who screwed off gets a lucky break and a chance to do better?
If I say No it is because I really do not trust someone or think they deserve a second chance. That is quite a tough position to take and I very rarely take it. Weldon sounds like that well-known breed of hard-ass young American academic who thinks anyone not as good as she is should really have worked harder... maybe she will mellow with time!
-p-
PS One of my favorite professors at UGA declined to recommend me to grad schools because he thought I just wanted to be a political activist and stir up trouble. Ultimately he may have been right but it took me 20 years to start doing that! Still I think he was wrong not to write me a letter - make up your own minds...
-----Original Message-----
From: Teaching Linguistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dave Sayers
Sent: 06 January 2017 10:19
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Saying No to graduates' requests for references
A thought-provoking piece about motivating students to impress you enough to warrant a recommendation letter (otherwise you won't write one):
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1657-claiming-your-right-to-say-no
(If you're in a hurry, skip half way down that page to the italicised paragraph.)
I'm torn about this, but in the end I think I'd disagree with Weldon's particular approach. It probably has the potential to motivate students, and she claims never to have received a complaint about it; but I'd be concerned about the effect on students with anxiety issues and personal difficulties affecting attendance and participation (who are least likely to step forward and complain anyway). It could also magnify the disenchanting spiral effect of being a mediocre student and feeling like you've failed anyway. Why bother trying when even your tutors won't recommend you in the end? And, despite no complaints from students, Weldon is unlikely ever to hear from down-and-out graduates who couldn't get work because they didn't get a recommendation letter. Sad fact: many HR hiring systems simply grind to a halt without ticking that box - academics might be innocently unaware of that kind of bureaucratic logjam, but it has harsh consequences.
I do give a lot of similar cautions to my students, for example that although first year grades don't officially 'count' towards your degree grade, they'll be very important when applying for mid-degree work placements; I show them a graph correlating past attendance and grades; I explain that the topics in the first year will be mobilised in later years so they need to understand them fully. But I don't make threats, naked or veiled. For me that's a little heavy-handed. How do other TeachLingers approach this?
Dave
--
Dr. Dave Sayers, ORCID no. 0000-0003-1124-7132 Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk [log in to unmask] | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
|
