"If you're fighting for your living, its not a luxury most of us can have. Sadly, this often justifies hostility, but I think there's a sane middle-ground here, but curt statements like "be kind" just seems so classist and off-putting to me."
I've consistently found that (in particular when treated with kindness and respect) poorer people respond with kindness in much greater measure than wealthy people. Like the author said, kindness isn't the same as niceness.
"Being kind is fundamentally about taking responsibility for your impact on the people around you. It requires you be mindful of their feelings and considerate of the way your presence affects them."
I think this advice is so apt and so needed. There's a perception that to be effective or powerful, one must also be harsh, stern, a little bit mean. That stems from a misunderstanding of what kindness is. Hopefully people will heed his advice!
This kind of activity tracking and productivity management is so helpful for students at a variety of levels. I wish these skills were clearly and intentionally taught either in high school or in early university! Even if everyone's goals and patterns are different, figuring out what works best is a HUGE asset. Your observations about your ability to estimate are especially interesting!
This is so interesting, and especially frustrating (for both instructors and students) because really, most of the time only tenured faculty have the luxury of pushing back against the norm to really engage with students more outside of class and go beyond just being graders.
