Exercise Physiology Curricula:  Moving Beyond Content
Larry Birnbaum, PhD, FASEP, EPC
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN  55811

As fall semester approaches, faculty typically find themselves preparing for courses they will be teaching.  Revising courses is an ongoing process and includes updating content.  For professional programs, content is critically important.  Students have to master facts, concepts, and skills to become competent practitioners.  But mastering content is only part of becoming a professional practitioner in the health care setting.  Several behavior characteristics are also important.  This article will focus on one of those crucial behavioral traits, namely respect.

Over the past few years, some colleagues have complained about a lack of respect demonstrated by the latest generation of college age students.  While there may be some truth to this, at least for a few students, I don’t think it is necessarily a trait unique to the latest generation.  After all, one of the messages the mainstream media has inundated our culture with over the last half century has been disrespect, particularly for people in positions of authority, and the younger generation has been their primary target.  Those of us “over 30” may feel we had more respect for others when we were younger, particularly those who were older than us and those in positions of authority.  Maybe, maybe not.  Perhaps it is more a matter of disrespecting certain outward behaviors, and, consequently, people who exhibit those behaviors.  I also wonder if people who expressed differing opinions respected each other more 50 years ago than they do today.  There seems to be little tolerance for differing opinions even though tolerance has been preached for some time now.  Possibly a better message would be respect for the dignity of the human person regardless of his or her views on matters of interest.  We should be able to agree to disagree, right?  Yes and no.  Yes, if the situation is a class in which dialogue with and among students is expected.  No, if a health care practitioner is working with a client who is expressing political views with which the practitioner disagrees.  There is a time and place to argue politics.  Working with a client in a professional setting is neither the time nor the place.

Of course, situations are not always so clear cut.  What about a client who needs to alter his behavior to improve his health or at least minimize further deterioration, but he argues there is nothing wrong with his behavior?  How should the health care provider handle that situation?  Treating the client with respect is essential, but the health care provider also has an obligation to help him understand the consequences of his detrimental behavior.  Learning how to do this in a respectful manner is a challenge and requires experience.  Thus, clinical internships are helpful, but faculty must help students develop that respectful attitude before they ever enter a clinical environment.  We can do that in a number of ways.

As faculty, we know that we are role models for our students.  Therefore, if we want students to develop respect for others, we must model respect [1].  We must demonstrate respect for other faculty, administrators, and staff, for people we discuss in our classes, and for the students themselves.  Put downs are always inappropriate.  Criticism has to be constructive.  For example, if an instructor is reviewing an exam with a class, and a student exclaims that a given question is a stupid question, no one is going to gain anything positive from that comment.  In essence, the student is telling the instructor that she is stupid.  Certainly, it is more of a challenge to model respect for that student.  Nonetheless, if the instructor is going to help such a student improve his behavior (show respect), she must try to turn the situation into a positive learning experience.  She could suggest to the student that if he explains why he thought an incorrect answer was the correct one or how the question was unclear to him, then she might be convinced that the question needs to be revised.  She may not even count the question if the student’s argument is logical, especially if other students express the same misunderstanding of the question.  Similarly, faculty have to be careful about how they phrase comments to students, not just comments directed at students, but at anyone.  As an example, an instructor could be reviewing a research article with a class as an exercise in critical thinking.  She wants them to find potential flaws in the article.  It is essential that in pointing out flaws in the article, she does not put down the author(s).

In addition to modeling respect for our students, we must also expect them to always be respectful of others.  It is probably a good idea to state that on the first day of class.  It is probable that most faculty feel some degree of disrespect when students skip class.  Skipping class means no legitimate reason is given.  They just don’t show up.  The implied message is that your class is not worth their time.  It is particularly insulting when you know they have an exam later that day, and they are skipping your class to spend more time studying for that exam.  Tardiness and not turning assignments in on time are also ways of showing disrespect, especially if such behavior is frequent.  Again, this could be addressed on the first day of class.  The message could include a comment about letters of recommendation.  How can a professor write a favorable letter of recommendation for a student who routinely skips class, is tardy or turns in assignments late? 

Upon graduation and entry into the real world of work, we want our students to have respect for others, their peers, clients, and supervisors, anyone they may interact with on the job and in any public setting (and in private, too, but the assumption is we are not aware of private behavior).  Ideally, we want our students to behave as professionals in all aspects of their lives all the time, an ideal that is likely not humanly possible.  Nevertheless, it is an ideal that should be expected.  It is easy to point out flaws in others.  It is easy for students to note the flaws in their professors.  While it is good to remind students that we and they are human, it is also good to encourage a constant striving for the ideal.  If we do not do that, we will fall that much shorter of the mark, and our society will suffer that much more.

References

1.  McChesney, S.  Respect - How to teach it and how to show it.  Teachnology Tutorials.  Retrieved July 23, 2008, from http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/respect/