Studentoid: The new creature in the classroom

In our quest to assess the intelligence of a student, through mechanisms like exams, classroom participation, quizs, and so on; we often forget to distinguish between a student and a ‘studentoid’!

Heard of the humanoid? A humanoid is a thing in the guise of a being that has an appearance resembling a human being without really being one (Oxford English Dictionary Online, n.d.). For example, a smart phone! It can perform many intelligent functions like a human being, but it's not a human being. Rather, it has some characteristics that intrinsically are humanly.

Similarly, a ‘studentoid’ is something, not someone, who attempts to look like a student, comes to the classroom, participates in the classroom activities like hearing the lectures and taking quizzes but not necessarily being endowed with all the attributes a student.

In the view of the above, it is important to mention that a student should be interested in grades and getting a job, but a defining trait of a student is to take “an interest in a particular subject” (Oxford English Dictionary Online, n.d.).

Interest is “being engaged, engrossed, or entirely taken up with” an activity, object, or topic (Dewey, 2009[1913]: 17). It is studied as a part of: (a) “emotional experience, curiosity, and momentary motivation;” and (b) “personality, individual differences, and people’s idiosyncratic hobbies, goals, and avocations” (Silvia, 2006: 4). Hence, interest can be segregated as: emotional interest and developed interest; what someone is born with in the case of the former and what s/he grooms her/his inclinations in the case of the latter. Hence, the holistic facet of someone’s interest is the combination of the inclinations that s/he is intrinsically good at and what s/he has acquired through studying theories and experiencing (student) life in general.

Now, how many teachers in the MBA level assess a student based on the Holland Code, one of the highly reliable and valid tests to know what a person should ideally become professionally? Similarly, how many of them assess a student based on his theoretical abilities along with practical competencies? And, from a common sense angle, how many teachers note the active listening ability of a student while assessing for classroom performance? I’m afraid, not many!

Teacher or teacheroid (a discussion for another time)!

To conclude, in line with all that looks like a human isn’t necessarily human, but some could be a humanoid; all that looks like a student may not be a student but may be a ’studentoid’.

References

Dewey, J. 2009[1913]. Interest and effort in education. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Oxford English Dictionary Online (n.d.). Humanoid. Retrieved from https://www.oed.com/public/learning/loginpage

Oxford English Dictionary Online (n.d.). Student. Retrieved from https://www.oed.com/public/learning/loginpage

Silvia, P. J. 2001. Interest and interests: The psychology of constructive capriciousness. Review of General Psychology, 5: 270-290.