Can Academic Success be Found THAT Easily?
A regular topic of conversation among educators is, “WHY do so many students fail to follow basic instructions?” While some teachers stick to complaining about the issue, most place the blame on ourselves at first. We double efforts to clarify instructions as we add bullet-points, illustrations, recaps, finger-puppets, examples, charts, modern dancing… but the problem persists as handouts get longer and sometimes weirder. First, our email inbox is filled with notes asking basic questions already answered in handouts. Next, the inbox is filled with notes from students who scored poorly on something because they didn’t “know” what to do (even though that was spelled out in finest detail).
Because the art and science of instruction-following have become rare, educators place an increasingly large percentage of assignment scores on doing all of what is asked on assignment. Even after students know this is the case, they will still refuse to follow instructions, as grade points diminish week after week. Watch a competitive baking show (or any other creative competition) to see people make the best biscuit for thousands of dollars yet “fail to follow the brief.” Often the big winner is just the one that ticked all boxes.
Why is this simple skill so poorly represented? Is there a science to following instructions? Is it an art form? Is it a state of mind?
25 years of teaching experience tells me that there is a connection between people who consider themselves clever or “excellent” at something and their refusal to follow directions. For example, students who have been strongly praised by others in the past for their writing skills will invariably ignore instructions for a writing assignment or, if they don’t’ ignore them, they will claim they don’t understand the instructions given. When pressed, I normally find the issue isn’t so much that they didn’t understand instructions but that surely the assignment specifics shouldn't apply to them. After all, they have been “writing novels for years!” The instructions for authoring an academic essay are being unfair to THEM.
A study on this topic was published several years ago by a joint research team from Cornell and Harvard Medical School. People who refuse to follow instructions are an expensive problem in corporations, government positions, and in college classes. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and hours are lost over this challenge. Perfectly intelligent people utterly fail at basic tasks because they can’t or won’t follow the steps necessary to complete assignments. Why? The results of the study were clear. People who see themselves as “special or entitled” would “rather lose at something than submit to the rules of others.”
Aside from the obvious, that some of us can blame an overly generous dollop of old-fashioned narcissism, there are several other contributing factors when perfectly smart students ignore instructions. Here are a few things I see at the front lines.
Dumb Tourist Approach
I devised this term for the behavior I witness repeatedly when traveling abroad (and especially when I was working as an archaeologist) from tourists who cut in line, wander across clearly barricaded areas as a shortcut, wander fecklessly into closed museum galleries, or stagger into blockaded excavation areas for a quick sneak peek. When caught violating all rules of “tourism good behavior,” they would feign ignorance and plead for special help getting themselves back on the tourist path. Flummoxed and harassed staff would comply just to get the “dumb tourist” out of their hair. The “dumb” tourist would still enjoy that shortcut, a special sneak peek, and subsequent boasting rights, just as he or she planned all along.
Some students discover there are big benefits to being a “dumb tourist.” They exert minimal effort, but when they forget an assignment or ignore instructions, they claim ignorance and seek second chances, extensions, and do-overs. This technique works well for them so they place bets that all flummoxed and harassed instructors (bosses, coaches, and parents in their lives) will give them help just to get them out of their hair or go easy on them when grading. This technique has short-term benefits. Even the most forgiving instructor and most encouraging coach will catch on.
Instructions are for Dummies Approach
Everyone has heard about the guy who tries to assemble a massive backyard playset without looking at the instruction booklet. It is practically a cliché for how stubborn people can be about reading instructions! All of us are guilty of similar foolish moves (there was the time we didn’t add chain grease to a new chainsaw until after we cut up a medium-sized tree). As we get older and hopefully wiser, we learn that only dummies SKIP instructions. This knowledge comes with experience and the cost of losses. Students need to gain this valuable insight for themselves. Tasked with a long writing project, will they or won’t they find out what is expected before they hand it in? Suffering a major grade gauge once or twice is a small price to pay for this important experience.
Genuinely Confused Approach
Sometimes instructions are genuinely confusing! Ever ordered something online only to discover that even the English instructions were not written in English? If you’ve never assembled a thingamajiggy before, the first time can be tricky. Since there aren’t YouTube videos on how to complete your assignments in your classes, you will have to find clarity. Try these steps:
1. Read the whole assignment handout from beginning to end. Read all of it. Don’t skip anything.
2. Next, go back and write out a project flow list for yourself using the instructions. You can be as detailed as you need to be but organize the steps for what your instructor wants from you in this assignment. Don’t forget details like formatting and the due date but include special instructions for yourself like “visit local university library on Saturday” or “interview uncle Steve about this topic.” Writing out the steps for yourself will help you visualize the whole project and how long it might take you. The flow list might be short (put it in your planner) or be longer and include multiple self-set due dates.
3. If you are still confused, contact your instructor to ask. Sometimes you aren’t so much confused but irritated that you are being asked to do something different than you’ve done in past classes. Ask for clarification but follow the instructions. How will you master new skills if your abilities have been perfected at age 16? You have much more to learn over the next 80 years. If you are being asked to do things differently, DO them differently by following the instructions.
Instructions are fabulous things. Instead of avoiding them, become excellent at following them. Aside from brain surgery or pygmy goat herding, being able to follow instructions can lead you to great heights of excellence. Cooking beautiful feasts just like Nana, or crafting extravagant art pieces, or making great smelling handmade soap all come from following instructions. Following instructions can turn you into a top-level student who is a joy to have in class both now and in the future. Adopt a good mindset for following instructions and then make it a habit.
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