Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom

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want to keep that student in the class, ideally, but the student has to stop badgering you andbehaving in a hateful, attacking manner, or the student will not make it through the course.Therefore, that relates to the whole issue of retention. You want to retain that student, but thestudent has to desist behaving that way, or he or she will not be able to stay in the class.In dealing with sociopaths, it may be helpful to remember it is the personality makeup ofabout 3–5 percent of the population. It is a part of reality that you are not going to be able tochange.So the issue is not whether the person has that specific personality type; the issue is how thestudent behaves in your class. Certainly, many sociopaths have graduated from college andbeen successful in the business world and in politics, but they probably managed not toengage in significant misconduct along the way. Or if they did engage in misconduct, it waseither undetected or unproven.Some sociopathic students are apt to cheat or do other things that are delinquent in theclassroom or elsewhere that will draw negative attention and get them into trouble. Thesestudents have to be warned that their behavior is unacceptable and will have consequences.Warnings can aid in retaining students, if it is possible. They must be warned that if theycontinue to engage in certain behaviors, they probably will not make it through the schoolexperience. Follow due process, and then the student’s behavior will determine the outcome.It is truly in the interest of students, whatever personality types they exhibit, that theyreasonably conform to the Code of Student Conduct. That is the requirement. If you remindstudents about that, one way or the other they will probably succeed and be retained if theyare willing to respect and conform to that particular non-negotiable requirement.Handling a student who responds with anger to firm instructions:The appropriate response to a student’s display of anger depends on the situation. As alreadymentioned, dimensions that affect the issue of free speech are things like appropriate decibellevel or obscenities. Shouting and cursing are not permissible behaviors in a classroom. Theterm “anger” does not necessarily imply behavior that is unacceptable; it could, but it doesnot have to in itself.“Anger” connotes unacceptable behavior, but consider a student who responds angrily byshowing displeasure. Perhaps he says something in a civilized way, such as, “I don’t acceptyour point of view. I don’t like your decision about this. I don’t like your grade. I’m very angrywith you.” There is probably nothing an instructor has to do about that situation other than40
to say, “Well, we agree to disagree, so let’s move on, and I hope that we can work this out. Ihope that things will improve.” People are allowed to disagree with one another as long as itis handled in a respectful manner.If the response, however, is very attacking and explosive, including obscenities and threatsof any kind, then the instructor must act immediately and firmly by reporting the matter.This is especially true if the response includes some physical gestures that one might easilyinterpret as being threatening in some manner.It would be advisable to report the incident not only to an administrator but to campussecurity as well. That is a very important intervention to use. There are cases in which astudent has said menacing things to an instructor, such as, “You better watch out!” Anythinglike that needs to be dealt with officially, because that is hardly a veiled threat; it is prettydirect.No instructor needs to put up with bullying, violence, or any kind of menacing behavior.Such behavior is clearly unacceptable. It is the student’s behavior to consider, not his or heranger. If the student’s behavior is out of bounds, then an instructor is justified in respondingaccordingly.Instructors who are extremely fearful of meeting with certain students because they pose apotential threat need to take steps to protect themselves, and they should be aware of whattheir options are. One option is not to meet with the student at all and perhaps havesomebody else meet with him or her. This may be a good idea if the problem seems to bepersonal.Another option is to have someone else present in the office so that the instructor feels safewhile speaking to the student. This other person might be a colleague, department chair, oradministrator. A third option might be to make sure that the office door is open at all timeswhen dealing with such a student.You may even want to have a code word or phrase worked out with a secretary in the outeroffice, so that if you pick up the phone and say, “I’d like a peanut butter sandwich,” thesecretary really knows that you mean, “Get the cops over here now!” or “Get the securitypeople over here immediately.” Those are options and safeguards that you should have inplace if you feel you might need them in dealing with a particularly difficult student.At Virginia Tech, for example, the chair of the department, who offered to provide individualtutoring to Mr. Cho, did have a code word worked out for protection. The irony of thatsituation is that she was willing to give him individual tutoring but also recognized that he41
Page 1 and 2: Coping withSeven DisruptivePersonal
Page 3 and 4: About This White PaperThis Magna Pu
Page 5 and 6: IntroductionThe typical college pro
Page 7 and 8: kThe Explosive StudentCharacteristi
Page 9 and 10: However, in situations in which the
Page 11 and 12: lThe Antisocial StudentCharacterist
Page 13 and 14: when detected and verified, have ad
Page 15 and 16: mThe Passive-Aggressive StudentChar
Page 17 and 18: • Keep records; mention in syllab
Page 19 and 20: play equally escapist video games.
Page 21 and 22: The issue here is that a great many
Page 23 and 24: nThe Narcissistic StudentCharacteri
Page 25 and 26: A short, straightforward comment to
Page 27 and 28: Without much ado, the consultant to
Page 29 and 30: pThe Litigious StudentCharacteristi
Page 31 and 32: qThe Compulsive StudentCharacterist
Page 33 and 34: imaginative tales nonetheless.It se
Page 35 and 36: Appendix A: Additional Issues and C
Page 37 and 38: of it. That could result in you bei
Page 39: had seen him as a potential menace
Page 43 and 44: As we know, some college football p
Page 45 and 46: Imitation of murderers is another r
Page 47 and 48: #3: Passive-AggressiveStyleCharacte
Page 49: We Value Your FeedbackWe hope you

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