Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom

For example, one rather young, unmarried, and childless psychology instructor at aMidwestern college once complained about how some of her older students who wereparents would blister her with complaints that she did not know enough about thepsychology of children because she didn’t have any. A pertinent question here is how theyeven knew that she had no children. In this particular case, she had shared this personalinformation with them when they pressured her to disclose it. Clearly, there was no reasonfor her to share this information with her students, and they were crossing personalboundaries by pressuring her to disclose it. Had she remained firm and tight-lipped abouther personal life, she might have averted this particular form of attempted denigration anddevaluation.This struggling instructor merely needed to be reminded that there are many people withchildren who have poorly understood and atrociously raised them. Conversely, there aremany people who do not have their own children but who, like she does, understand thepsychology of children exceptionally well.In other words, having children does not necessarily qualify a person to teach childpsychology, and not having children is not a disqualifying factor for this assignment.Students who attempt to devalue and demean instructors in this fraudulent manner shouldsimply be told that the college deems its instructors acceptable based entirely on theirprofessional qualifications, and they will endeavor to fulfill the requirements of that positionto the best of their abilities. If students are not satisfied with that explanation, they are freeto consult an administrator about their concerns.How to RespondThis type of student can be very hard on an instructor’s confidence and sense of self-worth.When confronted with a student who challenges your worth, remind yourself that you werehired to do your job based upon the strength of your qualifications.• Remember: College hired you based on your qualificationsKeep in mind, for your own protection, that self-entitled students do not respect personalboundaries or privacy especially well. They may attempt to intrude on your privacy byasking inappropriate questions. Try to refrain from answering personal questions asked bystudents with personal self-disclosures unless you are absolutely certain that yourdisclosures provide an absolutely relevant and positive contribution to the topic underdiscussion.24