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Following Instructions

Craig James Gunn Department of Mechanical Engineering Michigan State University East Lansing, MI

Introduction From the earliest records of humanity, the following of instructions has been at the apex of man’s existence. Cave paintings show the correct ways to bring down a woolly mammoth. Clay tablets explain the intricacies of constructing tombs, important buildings, and cities. Biblical documentation presents detailed instructions in how to live one’s life and the consequences of straying from the path. We are part of, and embedded in, a historical process that requires and rewards the following of instructions.

The historical legacy, though, seems to be lost on many of the students coming through the educational system today. More and more we see a total lack of regard for simple instructions and their importance in the real world. It is vitally important that a concentrated effort be made to instill in students the importance of reading and following instructions. It is obvious that this process should begin in the elementary grades, cultivated in the middle grades, and then fine- tuned in the college years. The reality may be that we at the university must take the responsibility of training our students to more actively read and follow instructions, an activity that will become increasingly more important as students compete for positions in the real world.

Early in every student’s academic career the thought of breezing through assignment upon assignment has been short circuited by the amazingly easy process of simply failing to read and follow the instructions given in that assignment. This is compounded when the assignments become more critical for one’s grade or the test that is being taken veers away from the objective because the test taker has failed to follow numbers 1, 5, and 8 in the list of steps to accomplish the task. We see on a daily basis student after student who arrive at one’s office hours trying to argue for a “better” grade because they failed to read the single line that said either “document your work” or “complete the additional four problems on the back of the sheet.” As one professor continually harangues, “This isn’t rocket science, just follow the instructions!” I felt this way, too, until I realized that we are not facing one problem but two – students are generally not failing to follow the instructions; they are actually failing to even take the time to read those instructions.

The Current State of Affairs The current state of web browsing and fast movement from one subject to another does nothing to instill in students a desire or need to read and follow instructions. If one misses a point, it may be picked up later – or so the browser thinks. This on top of the growing problem of student “Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Gunn, C. (2002, June), Following Instructions Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10912