First Day of Class for Business Majors

When I was teaching business classes in college, it did not matter if this was your first year in college or your fourth or fifth year in college, I would always ask my students the same two questions on the first day of class.

WHO ARE YOU?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

These two questions had to be answered in narrative form without relying on bullet points.  I wanted a response that was at least 500 words for each question.

BOY...  did they get pissed off at me!!!

Why do you suppose that I did this for BUSINESS MAJORS?

First - it told me how well they communicate, especially in writing.

Second - it told me how well they follow instructions without asking questions - Thinking for themselves.

Third - it told me how deep they are willing to drill down on a subject.

Fourth - it told me how well they understand themselves.

Fifth - it told me how well they perceive themselves.

Sixth - it told me how they may respond to unexpected situations.

Seventh - it provided me with a SWAT analysis of themselves.

Eighth - it told me how creative they could be.

Ninth - it gave me some insight as to their self-esteem and personalities.

Tenth - it told me if they had taken the assignment seriously.

Supposedly, a BA degree does not just teach you about business, but it teaches you about business leadership, values, integrity, and how to follow.  Yes...  a good leader, knows how to follow.  How can you expect others to follow you, if you yourself have no clues about following a leader?

Most college classes are either 50 minutes in length or 80 minutes in length.  Before, the class ended, I told the students that the in class assignment was now homework and due a week later at the beginning of class.  I gave them no further instructions, nor would I answer any of their questions about the assignment.  It was up to them to decide how they thought I might want it turned into me.

Obviously, this made them feel very uncomfortable because they were used to professors telling them exactly what to do and how to do it...   and, therein lies the problem of college...  professors thinking for the students so that they will get good evaluations at the end of the semester.

What I was looking for was a well thought through paper.  I did not care about the length as long as it was all inclusive.  How do you take 18-22 years of knowledge and boil it down into a condensed concept of thought?  It needed to be well written with no more than 3 grammatical errors.  Yes...  business majors needed to know proper grammar.

AND ABOVE ALL ELSE IT NEEDED TO BE TYPED and if it had a cover page and was in a folder, then the student got extra credit.

Students that worked while attending college, turned in better assignments than those that did not work...  does that really make sense?