The Importance of Fairness in the Classroom

Being fair and honest with students should be the core of every teacher's philosophy. Not that it always happens in every classroom, or even frequently enough, but it should be your goal. Another aspect is that the teacher's intent to be fair may not be enough to ensure success, but maybe more important, the students must believe in the teacher's fairness and return it in kind.

I've give an example of a bit of an unfair offense I committed many years ago, because I was a student of an unfair teacher. I like to think it was more revenge than cheating, but my little crime worked. I was a 26-year-old college junior, a bit long in the tooth compared to all the 19-year-olds in my class. The reason for my late start in higher education was that little time-consuming fracas called World War II.

It was during the era of the GI Bill of Rights, when college tuition was free for ex-servicemen and women. Most of my classes were full of student veterans, but in this particular one, I was the only one. The subject was art history, and most veterans were taking more practical courses, with majors like business administration or one of the sciences. My problem with the art history teacher was that I was the same age as he was. He had escaped military service, completed college and grad school during the war, and was now a professor and assistant dean of the fine art department. I believe that bothered him, and he harbored some guilt about it.

Maybe because he had never fought in the war, he had a reputation for giving low grades to all ex-service people. The history of art eras he was teaching were familiar to me not only from books, but because my wartime service in Europe had given me the opportunity to see the originals of English, French and Italian art. Knowing that about me made him a bit uncomfortable, but it turned to hate because I couldn't keep my big, bragging mouth shut. When he made one of his frequent errors about an artist, painting or sculpture, I was quick to set him straight. It got me many laughs from other students, but also earned me a D grade by the time of the final exam.

I was hoping to go on to grad school, and needed a B average to qualify. Although my other grades were good, a D would have killed my chances. The day before finals, the professor said the exam would be quite simple. He'd give out blank blue books and grant us exactly one hour to write an essay on everything about the history of art we had learned during the semester. An evil idea hatched in my brain.

Later that day, I bought a blank blue book, took it back to my room and spent hours researching my class notes and text books. Then, for the rest of the night, I wrote the essay containing everything we had covered in class. The next morning, I sneaked the blue book into class, pretended to write furiously for the hour, then turned in the book I had completed during the night.

If he was suspicious, the professor never said anything to me, but I did get a B minus for the semester. I should have had an A plus, considering the great details in that phony essay, but I didn't dare to complain. My conscience has been a bit quieted over the years because at the time I honestly believe I could have written a spontaneous essay on exam day that was almost as perfect as the one I turned in. At least I like to think so.

My point is that fairness is a two-way street in the classroom. As a teacher, you must be scrupulously honest, open and fair in treating each student the same as all the others. In fairness to you, always make it clear to your students that you expect the same courtesy returned to you. And the fact that I got away with just a wee bit of what some would call cheating should do nothing to disturb that important equation.