Say "No" When You Need To
This article will teach you how to firmly say NO when a class, committee, job, or whatever else does not benefit you.
By Norrell Edwards — December 5, 2022
As a new faculty member, I have often heard the adage, "protect your time!" Demands on new faculty members can often run the gamut from participating in this or that committee to supporting or leading various projects. As a student of color—I often received unfair or unrealistic demands on my time long before I became a professor. As one of few Black students a PWI, it was easy to become the face of diversity. With that came the expectation to participate in every town hall or be the student voice for various committees.
This is invisible labor that can take a mental and emotional toll. Much is written about these demands on university faculty, but much less is said about the impacts on students. Ultimately, you have got to do what is best for you. This is a lesson I had to first learn in high school.
Early in my elementary school career, I was tracked into 'special and gifted' courses. By the time I reached high school, I faced expectations of taking multiple Advanced Placement courses to keep up with my peers. I enrolled in 4 or 5 AP classes in my junior year, but my AP French class gave me trouble. I had the same teacher from the year before, but I found her teaching style confusing and vague; it was not what I needed to comprehend a foreign language at such an intense level. At the end of the first marking period, I received a D. I wanted to withdraw from the class lest it drag down my overall GPA. The chair of the foreign language department had other thoughts. He threatened that a withdrawal would sully my record worse than the D and would stymy my college ambitions. I worried.
Nearing 20 years ago, this was an era where the benefit of college was unquestioned, and 'looking bad to colleges' was both a boogeyman and scapegoat deployed by administrators to manipulate high school students anxious about their futures. My Caribbean guidance counselor told me candidly: the chair needed me to stay in the AP French class because there were so few students of color. Staying enrolled in the class made him look good. It had nothing to do with me personally or my academic future. I was shocked. This was my very first-time learning there existed adults who didn't have a student's or child's best interest in mind when providing advice.
This was also my first time realizing that I existed as a quota to fill. As I continued in higher education, more moments surfaced where I needed to fulfill or get closer to the diversity benchmark. I was no more than a number or stat might garner more funding or resources. Unfortunately, some administrators are pressed to keep their programs afloat. They forget about how their actions impact the students they serve. I would see this happen again in college for a pipeline program to funnel underrepresented students into academia.
Your relationship with everything you participate in should be a symbiotic one. Whatever you do should serve you, and the benefits should be clear. I followed my high school guidance counselor's advice—against the foreign language chair's prophesies of doom and gloom—I withdrew from the course. The sky didn't fall. I got into several good colleges and was even offered two full rides. My pursuit of learning the French language did not end because I dropped AP French. I went on to take many more French classes in college and even graduate school. The year away in high school reaffirmed that I loved learning French; that particular teacher and course did not fit my needs.
Please do not let a teacher or class define your relationship to any subject or idea. You have control and agency in how you engage with anything you learn; it does not have to be bound by the walls of a classroom. I hope you learn to firmly say NO when a class, committee, job, or whatever else does not benefit you. Of course, you should do a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the situation. If you decide the costs outweigh the benefits— trust yourself. Don't be afraid to look out for you.
Norrell Edwards
Norrell Edwards is a scholar, educator, and communications consultant for non-profit organizations. Her employment experience and research interests place her work at the nexus of global Black identity, cultural memory, and social justice. Norrell graduated with a BA in English Literature from Hunter’s College followed by a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park in 20th and 21st Century Black Diaspora Literature.
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