Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Reflection 2
I'm not sure how to answer this question. Right now I think some unrealistic expectations of the RA's are their psychic ability to know when someone is doing something wrong and their undying ability to prove it. I believe that residents should be punished for everything they do wrong to help enforce the rules of campus life, but I also feel like administration and students expect the RA to know when something is going wrong and catch it in an instant. For example if a student complains that incense is being used in a room on their floor, the student expects the RA to find it and punish the person with the incense. Chances are the RA won't be able to find them and even if they do, the incense could be gone or it could've been something cooking in the microwave. I really think everyone expects, since some students have the title Resident Assistant, that they can do anything and everything. The truth is not everything can be prevented and not all cases can be proved. RA's aren't superheroes, the title is nothing but a title and a way of life, no new abilities are obtained when the title is gained and i think a lot of people forget that.
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9 comments:
I do believe that residents think that their RA is all knowing and has all the answers, but they don't. How would you handle the incense situation if you found the room it was obviously lite, but the evidence was gone and the resident demanded something to be done?
My biggest complaint about this supposed omniscient and omnipotent RA is that it is often used as an excuse for students to not take personal responsibility for their own community. Incense is a difficult one - but noise, for instance... students don't often just ask their neighbors to be quiet. They want the RA to do it for them... and then that just compounds the problem.
The flip side, of course, is the RA that tries to take on and 'solve' all the floor or building problems. Where's the line between handling it and passing it up?
It is true that residents don't always just go tell their neighbor. I know that I have done that before and now that I think about it, I'm not sure why.
I also feel that if you don't catch someone in the act of doing something against the rules, you can't accuse them. I think you could check with the resident to make sure everything is ok and just talk to them for a minute so they get nervous. If something happened they might try to cover it up, but still there is no room for accusation. I would let that resident know about the complaint, not who said it, but just about the complaint overall and remind them of the honor code and the res. hall guidelines. Then I would talk to the resident who informed me of it. If they are that upset it is obvious this is not the only time this has happened. If that is the case i would tell the resident to let me know again next time and i will try to get there quicker, because i can't do anything without solid proof and i would ensure them that i would do my best.
i agree that some residence belive that RA's are superheros and are suppose to move immediately. Students should understand that RA's are students also and only have limited power to let things happen. Also if an Ra has 10 rooms on a floor it can be impossible to find the person that is burning anything, because although the smell may be there, there can be no evidence of anything.
I like how you state that you aren't sure how to answer this question. This is because I don't truely think any of us can understand all of expectations until we are in the position ourselves.
I think it is interesting to think about this as "nothing but a title and a way of life".
I think this really balances out all the unrealistic expectations... that it is really nothing but what you said and that all RA's try to do is their best given the situation!
I disagree about the punishment aspect of your reflection. Did your parents punish you for every violation that you committed when you were growing up? Or, did they do what most parents do, let you slide on the little violations sometimes only with the words "you disappointed me", or "I expected better from you". Then on violations in which you had been warned, scolded, at several times then they felt a need to seriously punish you, because they felt like you were taking their kindness for weakness. Things that we do that are harmful to our selves or others is reason to punish immediately. Things that may have been done, because of a over sight or not knowing is judged on its own individual merit. Just speaking as a mother.
Laura W
As you know by my post i disagree with your ideas of punishment. If we let even the smallest violation get passed us, our residents won't think we are actually going to do anything about issues on our floors and chaos will break out. I think every violation needs to be assessed and taken care of.
Incense is a tough situation to handle. On one hand I can't comprehend why in college there are so many rules that seem stupid. And on the other hand, rules are rules, the school is giving us room and board, why do we feel we have the right to break them?
I agree about RA's seen as superheroes who should fix every problem of the residence hall is ridiclious. Situations such as roommate arguments or boyfriend/girlfriend problems can't be solved by the RA, and facilities issues can't be resolved in the snap of a a finger. I wish everyone had to take on the responsibilities of an RA for just one day and I bet they wouldn't complain as much.
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