"Participation counts." As a quieter person, these are the words I dread to hear my professors announce. I almost always instantly consider dropping the class solely because of my fear to speak up.
Class starts, and everyone's eager to answer questions to boost their grades. Me, on the other hand, is currently sweating at the idea of talking in front of this seemingly huge class of ridiculously smart people.
What if everyone thinks my answers are dumb? What if I'm wrong? What if I say "um" too much? Even worse, what if my teacher answers my question with another question?
It sounds silly, but these are the thoughts that flood my mind when teachers start forcing everyone to participate- threatening to lower grades otherwise. Eventually, I usually gather the courage to answer a question- but this only secures my grade until the next class, when I have to go through this mental struggle again.
I know teachers often include heavy participation in their classes to make sure everyone's paying attention or to make the class more "fun," but I can not disagree more with this teaching method.
In the majority of the classes I've been in that follow this teaching method, I've noticed that all the extroverted people will answer questions, saying literally anything- just to put their two cents in. After answering questions though, people will get right back on their phones and ignore everything else the professor's saying (I'm not saying this is true for every person, but just what I've noticed from a majority). At the end of the day though, the people who speak up and half pay attention to class receive credit, while those who don't participate but pay attention the entire time receive no credit.
How is this fair?
This kind of teaching caters to only a small group of people. So many others, my self-included, would perform better in classes that are more welcoming to all personality types. Written participation is something that is much more inclusive than verbal participation. It allows everyone to express their ideas free of worry from judgment or speaking up, in general, to participate in another way.
I agree that being lectured to the entire time can be boring, but I disagree that forcing people to participate is the only way to make a class more enjoyable. For people with anxiety in these situations, this method can distract from the actual material, and make the class revolve around thinking of something worth saying and working up the courage to say it. This teaching method may not seem especially controversial to everyone, but I hope some people can relate to my aggravation. My favorite professors are those who encourage participation but don't require it to succeed. Verbal communication is important, but not always essential to success.