Is it Syllabi....Or Syllabuses????

As a college teacher, there are many things that are rewarding. Helping students reach their highest potential; assisting them in their quest for greater knowledge; above all, enabling them to come to a better understanding of the Word of God. All of these things make my job one that is fantastic.

That being said, there are some drawbacks. This is especially true, because all of the courses I teach are completely online. By far, the biggest pet peeve I have is that some students seem to not comprehend the concept of a syllabus.

Each semester, I send out a general e-mail to all my students--introducing myself and the course they are taking. I attempt (in my feeble way) to spell out what I expect of them. Foremost is the request that they actually READ THE SYLLABUS. It shouldn't be that difficult to understand....if you want to know what is expected of you, READ THE SYLLABUS.

However, it is the case that every semester there are several students who wait until midway through the term and ask, "What are we supposed to turn in?" Or, "When are the assignments due?" Or, "What is a syllabus?" (OK, I'm just making that last one up---maybe.)

Each time, I try to suppress the impulse to TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS MY FRUSTRATION WITH THE STUDENT and instead calmly ask, "Have you read the Syllabus?" To which, I add a synopsis of what the student needs to know.

In light of all of this, I have to wonder: where did these students attend high school? Were they ever taught the concept of a syllabus? And, exactly what do you call more than one syllabus? (Well, maybe not that last one.)

To me, this is merely symptomatic of the larger issue in our culture. Many people seem to have a congenital block when it comes to reading the instructions. Maybe that's why Congress passed the massive healthcare bill--they just didn't read the instructions. Yeah, yeah, I know--Pres. Obama wanted it, and the Dems in Congress rammed it through. But, did anyone really read the thing? But, I digress.

The real problem in our society is that people are not reading the instructions that REALLY matter. This leads to creeds, catechisms, confessions of faith, the Qu'ran, the Book of Mormon, and Dianetics (L. Ron Hubbard was a so-so Science Fiction author, and was messed up in his personal life), among other things.

God's Word is all we need for our lives today. His Syllabus gives us the guidelines we need. If only we knew how to read....!