Do nursing instructors deliberately try to weed out students, by doing things like testing on material they haven't gone over yet, deliberately making it hard, picking on students?
My opinion was the "weeding out of students" was a myth.
The weeding out process seems to occur naturally, and the reason so many people don't make it through the program that started out, is that it's a tough, demanding, time consuming program, and whose eyes are on graduating top notch nurses who can pass NCLEX.
I do know teacher eyeball students they don't think are good clinicians and many of these cry "the teacher doesn't like me, and is out to get me". Or eyeball students that need a kick in the butt, or need a confidence boost and they feel picked on as well.
I don't think insturctors play games and try to weed students out.
Basically what you people are saying ,,,,,, Nursing school is....... Louis Gossett Jr watching your every move screaming, "I WANT YOUR D.O.R. MAYO!!!!" :angryfire
BUT I GOT NOWHERE ELSE TO GOOOOO!!!!
:chuckle :chuckle :chuckle
I replayed that very scene in my mind several times during nursing school.
I feel privileged to have had some wonderful instructors, but it was still hard. I hate to imagine what it would be like with instructors too stupid to see that our success is their success.
Well, by now we've established that the "weeding out" thing isn't a myth. :)
Let me share an interesting contrast that I encountered at my school, which, by the way, I now don't feel I can recommend safely to anyone whom I might think should go to nursing school. I mean, that if I know someone whom I think has the ability to do that program, I won't recommend it for fear they'll run up against a particular instructor the wrong way; I hate to see someone's potential screwed up due to another person's meanness.
I had an instructor who put me on probation in my first year. She sat me down, told me my strengths, then told me the problems. She asked me what I would do to correct them, and gave me an extra clinical day. I took it as an opportunity to show this instructor, who had so much faith in me, that I could do this job, and passed her clinical rotation. I told her after pinning, that hers was the most productive rotation in the entire program just for the reason of how she handled such things.
Next quarter, I had an instructor, oh let's call her Jane. I'm ambivalent about this person; as a lecturer and test writer she is top notch. I'd take any class that is solely lecture-based from her, in a heartbeat. As a nursing lecturer, she will tell you things about the practical environment that are absolutely correct and if you'll remember them, you'll find them useful.
However, I don't think this person should be let within a mile of a clinical setting. EVER. It's impossible to tell who she's gonna decide to target, but buddy when she does, it's a ride. She told a friend of mine that she views it as her job to weed out those whom she THINKS won't be a good nurse. That's her priority. She will go out of her way to find ways to intimidate people. For some of her targets, she'll follow them so closely that if they stopped suddenly, she'd run right over them.
When it came time to get an evaluation from this instructor, I got a personality analysis. On paper. I am an attention seeking personality, who doesn't fit in the role of student. Why thanks, I needed an analysis from a non-qualified individual, in my permanent record, about the same way I needed a hole in the head. I don't think such personal remarks should go there. Oh, yes, and I was told that if this particular instructor had read the evaluation I got from being on probation (the one where I improved so very much, and was very proud of it) PRIOR to my clinical rotation, she would have failed me outright.
That I had a problem with, and still do. AFTER reading that evaluation, and after my clinical rotation, she decided, according to her oh so perfect hindsight, that I had indeed had a problem with one of the items during her rotation. The item? Interrupting the teacher. Which would have been laughable, if it hadn't been my a$$ on the line, because she intimidated me nearly to the point of speechlessness most of the time. Hyper-awareness of that possibility, pretty much precluded the appearance of it during this rotation.
There were multiple other problems had by many other students of hers, and it would be much too long to go into here, but all of them point out her personal bias as a pattern of dealing with students. For that reason, I don't recommend my school to someone who actually has the ability to go through nursing school otherwise.
-Indy
I am very sorry that you had this happen to you. I too can relate to what it is like to be targeted by instructors. The best piece of wisdom that was told to me was A bully is a bully and as soon as you stand up to them they back down. And I must say that from experience I found this to be so. If I had just believed this to begin with I would have saved myself a year of torment. I am proud to say that once I stood up I haven't sat down since be it for me or for my fellow classmates. Hey have you ever thought that now you are finished about going and changing the system? :balloons:
For the record, I no longer think it's a myth that nursing schools deliberately try to weed out their young. Anymore than I think it's a myth some of the things you mentioned....like young people don't want to work.
I just don't generalize and say "nurses eat their young". For every story of nurses eating their young, I can tell you a story of nurses supporting nurses.
Also, we have to ADN grads on my unit. One, they 25 year old, hit the ground running, eager, hardworking already handling a full load after just a few weeks (still on orientation though). The 45 year old, spends more time on the cell phone, can't handle but half a load, can never be found...lazy to the max. But I don't expect ADN's or BSN's ready to hit the floor. Nursing schools have tried to address the "reality shock" that they are going to feel, maybe they aren't doing a good job at preparing them for that.
Anyway, I just don't like generalizations. And while I don't want to discount horror stories like Debs, and I'm no longer calling it a myth, I'm not calling it absolute truth for nursing schools either. Which is why I started this thread, not to prove myself correct, but to gather information.
So I was wrong, it's not a myth.
I too admire that you can change your point of view and see into other sides. That is rare to find. I have just finished my training is there any words of wisdom on how to address the 'Reality shock' of nursing? :balloons:
It's not all that rare. And again, it's not a myth. Some people who are weeded out needed to be. Others did NOT deserve it.
I am sorry some folks here don't believe me. Or that they think people like me "deserved weeding out" for some reason......... .
Deb, I'm sorry people aren't believing you.
Whiners, complainers, slackers who accuse instructors of picking on them and weeding them out are just as common as mean vindictive teachers who deliberately pick on students just to weed them out. As evidenced by the posts in this thread that's the reality for some of us.
The problem with us is that we aren't as willing to give them the benefit of the doubt as you, since you've actually lived through it.
I understand the frustration of not being understood.
I hope that the next time someone complains that "the instructor is out to get me", that I can not judge them, but consider that it might indeed be true.
I have heard that A&P are the make and break point too. Any idea as to why that is? What is it about A&P? :balloons:
A&P, like nursing school is a lot of volume of information to learn. One week you have to learn 100 muscles and the next you have to learn 1000 bones. The next you have to learn the biochem of digestion. Lots and lots of stuff. To me it was fascinating and I loved it.
I too admire that you can change your point of view and see into other sides. That is rare to find. I have just finished my training is there any words of wisdom on how to address the 'Reality shock' of nursing? :balloons:
I really don't. Just acknowledge there it's there. That are going to be moments when you think "gee, nursing school wasn't like this, I don't think I can handle it, why did I ever think I could be a nurse, am I crazy, I can't do it."
Use your resources, ask questions, and hang on it's going to be a bumpy ride.
that whiners, complainers, slackers who accuse instructors of picking on them and weeding them out are just as common as mean vindictive teachers who deliberately pick on students just to weed them out.
Considering there's on average one teacher per 275 students (class of...).....35 whiners and complainers per class......hard to believe that vindictive teachers are just as common. Perhaps it's just me and my school.
Teachers have way better things to do than focus on one student where I come from. Thats why if they are ...'mean'...they make up some pretty hard tests...then watch what happens. The s*** always floats to the top. :chuckle
Z....the whiners and complainers make the rest of us look bad. They don't add creedance to true stories like Deb's and Leslies.
As hard as stories like Deb's and Leslie's are to believe, we need to respect that they are true, and acknowledge that. Some teacher's don't focus on the students that need it, but just pick on students to be evil.
Like you, I'd like to think that instructors dealing with the whiners are more common and more the norm than evil ones. Because therea re definately a lot of whiners and complainers in the world. Maybe that's just a pipe dream and wishful thinking. And yes, one evil teacher is one too many.
Z....the whiners and complainers make the rest of us look bad. They don't add creedance to true stories like Deb's and Leslies.
As hard as stories like Deb's and Leslie's are to believe, we need to respect that they are true, and acknowledge that. Some teacher's don't focus on the students that need it, but just pick on students to be evil.
Oh I'm not trying to say it isn't possible and I totally believe Deb and Leslie....I didn't mean for it to sound like I doubted them.
Just my opinion of my findings over here. 'Tis all. :)
Oh I'm not trying to say it isn't possible and I totally believe Deb and Leslie....I didn't mean for it to sound like I doubted them.
Just my opinion of my findings over here. 'Tis all. :)
Z
I agree, and I tend to share you opinion, rather than there's a culture of weeding out that's evil and deliberate. It's hard to express that without making Deb, Lizz or Leslie feel like they aren't being taken seriously however.
I guess A&P may be weeding courses but I really think it is more likely the physiology portion. Anatomy is straight memorization. Physiology is understanding how things work.
I saw many students complete the first semester of A&P but there was only about half the class after the mid-term of the second semester.
I have heard that A&P are the make and break point too. Any idea as to why that is? What is it about A&P? :balloons:
nursemike, ASN, RN
1 Article; 2,362 Posts
I replayed that very scene in my mind several times during nursing school.
I feel privileged to have had some wonderful instructors, but it was still hard. I hate to imagine what it would be like with instructors too stupid to see that our success is their success.