Tutor Talk | November 2025

What do you wish faculty knew about students right now?

Evergreen students and faculty have an invaluable resource in the support provided by peer-tutors in the Writing Center and QuASR. We asked our tutors what they wish faculty knew about students right now, and here’s what we’d like to pass along to you:

That many Evergreen students are non-traditional and do not have the same foundation as many other college populations in things like citations, the traditional essay, study skills etc. and that not teaching those skills leads to students getting stuck before they get to the bulk of the assignment and can foment a lot of shame. I wish these skills were explicitly taught across the board in first-year classes. I also wish that professors didn’t make individual recommendations to students to visit the Writing Center (feels like punishment) and instead either just share information about it or require attendance for the entire class.

Students are not getting clear instruction about how to clearly communicate math. In general chemistry I see a lot of messy calculations and students struggling with conversion factors. If teachers helped students with initial organizational and study skills in Gen chemistry, gen biology, and pre-calculus, I believe it would lead to better outcomes for students. The students that are struggling the most tend to be the ones that have the most difficulty clearly chaining out chemistry equations, providing enough space on their paper for their calculations to be legible so they are able to go back and clearly check their work. It would also be great if teachers were very explicit with their students when they want things memorized. I have encountered many students who do not realize they need to memorize polyatomic ions.