Professional Ethics

Today in class I made my first attempt at learning students' names. My technique is to ask them to tell me their names and give me an interesting fact about themselves. The results are always fascinating. In one class there are multiple trombonists, while another has a high guitarist population. One student disclosed that he has six toes on one foot. I was thrilled to hear about his morphological anomaly. One of my students chimed in: "Dr. Whitney, you know you want to ask him to take his shoe off. I can see you holding yourself back." I admitted that she had read me right, but I explained that I thought it would be too weird for me to demand that a student take his shoe off in class. Another student piped up "But it's not weird if we ask him!" The six-toed student happily obliged, and everyone crowded around to have a look at his extra digit. The student who followed him said "My name is...and I have ten toes."

I shared this anecdote with a colleague who said that his style in the classroom is very formal, and while he thinks my approach is great, the thought of a student taking his shoe off in class is unfathomable for him, as he likes to retain a certain distance from his students. However, he insists that his students address him by his first name. Meanwhile, I am a last-name enthusiast, and everyone in my classes is Mr or Miss/Ms, which is my way of keeping things professional and distinguishing the classroom from the outside world. We all have our ways, but I prefer my approach to professional ethics, where every person has a title, but also feels free to show off their glorious mutations.