As an instructor, agree about everything but will add that I try to keep a positive framing.
That people procrastinate and need incentives is human nature — no more use bemoaning this than bemoaning politics. The job of instructor is precisely to enforce a system of rules and incentives while not being too dogmatic about them that the class turns into a grind while promoting enthusiasm for learning while creating inspired course content, while balancing all this with the instructor’s own scholarship priorities. It’s a tall order and very few people do it well.
That mastery is difficult and subtle does not distinguish pedagogy from other professions, but what is different is that every shmo off the street remembers being a student, so thinks they know the secret formula for pedagogy.
That people procrastinate and need incentives is human nature — no more use bemoaning this than bemoaning politics. The job of instructor is precisely to enforce a system of rules and incentives while not being too dogmatic about them that the class turns into a grind while promoting enthusiasm for learning while creating inspired course content, while balancing all this with the instructor’s own scholarship priorities. It’s a tall order and very few people do it well.
That mastery is difficult and subtle does not distinguish pedagogy from other professions, but what is different is that every shmo off the street remembers being a student, so thinks they know the secret formula for pedagogy.