Does the allure of fast food tell us something about this ondemand generation of students? What they want from their learning sometimes seems akin to what they expect of their meals: complete, packaged, quick, satisfying, flavorful and accessible. Yet when students come into my classes, many of them are suddenly confronted by a depth of learning they have never before encountered. Having grown up with frozen entrees, boxed meals and microwavable snacks, I’m asking them to slow down, to put away the pouches of soup and the instant puddings and perhaps tap into the tastes of their ancestral homes, to experience a well prepared meal.

This past semester, students complained about one of my course books. They didn’t like it. It was too difficult. It wasn’t as interesting as the first book, they said. The first book, “The Kite Runner,” was satisfying, stimulating, easily consumed, with lots of spice and flavors, most of which were recognizable. “Journey from the Land of No,” a memoir of growing up Jewish in Iran during the Islamic revolution, didn’t make sense to them. It seemed to lack the quick satisfaction of recognizable tastes. Like the preparation of a meal, the only way to feel satisfied with the book came through pondering how each chapter functioned like a set of ingredients they would have to mix together before the book could be fully savored. Full of disguised ingredients like religion, culture, history and place, they scanned the book for ready answers and what they thought they might need to be done with the meal quickly.

A college education serves up plates of complexly prepared foods with rich sauces, new and foreign ingredients, and diverse courses with varying and complementary themes. The assortment of choices and combinations can be mind boggling and overwhelming, but students can quickly learn to navigate and choose complex combinations that complement and support their individual palates, if their palates are taken seriously and as teachers we plan meals they want to taste.

In my class, reading a book like “Journey from the Land of No” was meant to be an appetizer. It was intended to serve up tastes to tease their palates, to stimulate their appetites for information and a way of knowing that will lead them into new worlds and new ideas. But I realize now that more care was needed to introduce them to these more flavorful ingredients.

My experience with “Journey from the Land of No” has left me pondering some things. If we want our students to truly gain from their learning, what do we need to do to make that happen? What do our students bring to their learning that will add to the richness of the college experience for them? How can we entice them to come and linger at our academic tables?