LSU students: dumb, or just lazy?
- Thread starter jakldawg
- Start date
but as a working adult, I am for it. One of my regrets is while I was at State, I was a master at finding the easiest road available. I could tell you to take Mary Celeste Reese, Becky Whitten and Dalton Miller, among others - but I probably wasn't as challenged as I needed to be.
90% failure rate for an entry-level course? Her teaching methods shouldn't even be discussed; just give her the hook as she's obviously way too far out for correction in this setting.
If you read the details, you see why: she's used to senior and graduate-level courses and students in her specialty. The real problem lies in whomever assigned her to teach the course in the first place.
If you read the details, you see why: she's used to senior and graduate-level courses and students in her specialty. The real problem lies in whomever assigned her to teach the course in the first place.
It is their freshman year and Biology is already one of the harder freshman level courses. Adding an upper level professor to the mix would be devastating to nearly everyone in the class except the ones that study 24/7. That is just too big of an adjustment hurdle to overcome for the majority of first year students. Now if they still are having time management issues year 2 or later then it is lazy or dumb.
Do I think the school was right for removing the professor? No I do not. There is simply no reason to remove someone for being too hard at that point in the semester. If her conduct was bad or she did something that could be offensive then LSU may have a case but for grading concerns that is just wrong. They should have waited until the end of the semester evaluations began instead of pulling the trigger midway.
Do I think the school was right for removing the professor? No I do not. There is simply no reason to remove someone for being too hard at that point in the semester. If her conduct was bad or she did something that could be offensive then LSU may have a case but for grading concerns that is just wrong. They should have waited until the end of the semester evaluations began instead of pulling the trigger midway.
Too much professor for the course, sounds like.
On the flip side, while I was a junior at State I took a geography class as a sop elective and the guy the department assigned to teach the class was a 60-year-old weather man. For the first five weeks of the class, Monday Wednesday and Friday, he taught weather. No geography whatsoever, other than how mountain ranges impact weather. The university was in a re-org at the time (early 90s) and that department was on the chopping block. Student complaints to the dean got him yanked and his grad assistant taught the rest of the course, this time about geography, so I understand the need of the university to be responsive to the students, but I agree the issue at LSU was caused by whoever assigned the professor to the course, probably in much the same way it was caused in my case by assigning a weather geezer to teach geography.
On the flip side, while I was a junior at State I took a geography class as a sop elective and the guy the department assigned to teach the class was a 60-year-old weather man. For the first five weeks of the class, Monday Wednesday and Friday, he taught weather. No geography whatsoever, other than how mountain ranges impact weather. The university was in a re-org at the time (early 90s) and that department was on the chopping block. Student complaints to the dean got him yanked and his grad assistant taught the rest of the course, this time about geography, so I understand the need of the university to be responsive to the students, but I agree the issue at LSU was caused by whoever assigned the professor to the course, probably in much the same way it was caused in my case by assigning a weather geezer to teach geography.
If the teacher is assigned a course and isn't teaching what he/she is assigned (such as your example weather instead of geography) then they should be removed. But if he/she is teaching biology and is teaching the correct material that the course is supposed to cover than I just don't see how you can remove someone for that because of their level of difficulty. Not mid-semester. When the semester has ended then you tell them they cannot teach that course again.
Michael Goree might be the easiest teacher in the history of college education. No books to buy, just go in his class and shoot the **** for an hour, then leave. There were no tests, only a written assessment of what you learned at the end of the semester. He lets you decide your grade then checks your class attendance then decides to agree or disagree with your own evaluation. I think I had him for 3 or 4 Marketing classes.</p>
The difference there was Gilmer's class was a senior (or junior?) level class, not a freshman class. It was still impossible. He had that stupid *** "start from zero" grading scale where you could theoretically get a -100 on a test. I hated that class then. Now, as someone who works in corporate finance, I think it would have paid off to work just a little harder in that class.
And to 615 - Mary Celeste Reese and Becky Whitten - two of the best classes ever. I'll never forget seeing Becky Whitten at Rick's for Rollin' In The Hay my sophomore year, and she basically told me she'd give me no problems for the rest of the semester as long as I didn't tell anyone in the class that she was at Rick's on a Tuesday night.
Edited: And I agree that Goree was easily the best.</p>
And to 615 - Mary Celeste Reese and Becky Whitten - two of the best classes ever. I'll never forget seeing Becky Whitten at Rick's for Rollin' In The Hay my sophomore year, and she basically told me she'd give me no problems for the rest of the semester as long as I didn't tell anyone in the class that she was at Rick's on a Tuesday night.
Edited: And I agree that Goree was easily the best.</p>
going to class raised a test grade by three letters. I didn't really care about getting challenged though, especially in core classes.
I like her methods, but I think some of her grading needs to be adjusted. For example- have the pre-class quizzes count together as one test score. The thing about that is, someone may read the material, but may not understand the material. That's why teachers teach.
Having 10 choices for multiple choice is ridiculous. Six should be the max. When I took gross anatomy at UMC, my professor there had some really tough multiple choice questions, and what made them hard were the fact that she put two-four answers that were possible, and then she had A and B, all of the above, none of the above, and etc. I made a 96 on the Gross Anatomy final, and I felt like the smartest person in America.
I think she means well, but she does need to make some adjustments. Sometimes people learn better when they don't hate your guts and are stressed out.
Having 10 choices for multiple choice is ridiculous. Six should be the max. When I took gross anatomy at UMC, my professor there had some really tough multiple choice questions, and what made them hard were the fact that she put two-four answers that were possible, and then she had A and B, all of the above, none of the above, and etc. I made a 96 on the Gross Anatomy final, and I felt like the smartest person in America.
I think she means well, but she does need to make some adjustments. Sometimes people learn better when they don't hate your guts and are stressed out.
I made an A.1</p>
_________
1That being said, it should be noted that I have a degree in history.
_________
1That being said, it should be noted that I have a degree in history.
the fact that it was a non-major class makes itok for me to think to pull her, those arent really supposed to be hard. i took really easy classes for my non-major electives. history of dance with funderburk and geography with miller. i was looked at like a nerd because im a mechanical engineering major and was in cal 3 at the time. ive only seen 2 decent looking girls in my classes since then.....
Lestrade in the Physics dept. failed the majority of the engineering students in physics 3. 25 multiple choice, no calculator. If he messed up a solution, the whole class got it wrong regardless.
Not just an LSU issue. Every university has these types.
Not just an LSU issue. Every university has these types.
The Professor was Hai Dang and the class was Differential Equations II.
You engineers know what I'm talking about.
You engineers know what I'm talking about.
This topic mirrors a common theme on SPS: "The Pussification of American Sports."
So what if she failed 90% of her students? The article indicated that it served as a wakeup call for the next test, on which the grades were improved due to better preparation. She was removed immediately following this test without so much as a discussion with the Dean beforehand. As a student, I would have protested.
Multiple choice tests with more than 4 answers? So what? I taken several tests in the physics department where we were given a few multiple choice questions with 18-25 possibleanswers and no partial credit for our work. You know what happened? After the first test, everyone in the class who did poorly realized they would fail if they didn't master the material. Granted, I admit that sort of testing is on the extreme side (partial credit should have been given), but it was still effective.Teachers who give more than 4 choices on an multiple choice test shouldn't be criticized. For goodness sake, what are these students going to do if given a "fill-in-the-blank" test?
I'm of the belief teachers should stop making it so easy on students. It's a University. Deal with it. Work your *** off, learn the material, and become a badass in the workforce.
For reference to "The Pussification of the American Higher Education System," see: http://www.gradeinflation.com/
So what if she failed 90% of her students? The article indicated that it served as a wakeup call for the next test, on which the grades were improved due to better preparation. She was removed immediately following this test without so much as a discussion with the Dean beforehand. As a student, I would have protested.
Multiple choice tests with more than 4 answers? So what? I taken several tests in the physics department where we were given a few multiple choice questions with 18-25 possibleanswers and no partial credit for our work. You know what happened? After the first test, everyone in the class who did poorly realized they would fail if they didn't master the material. Granted, I admit that sort of testing is on the extreme side (partial credit should have been given), but it was still effective.Teachers who give more than 4 choices on an multiple choice test shouldn't be criticized. For goodness sake, what are these students going to do if given a "fill-in-the-blank" test?
I'm of the belief teachers should stop making it so easy on students. It's a University. Deal with it. Work your *** off, learn the material, and become a badass in the workforce.
For reference to "The Pussification of the American Higher Education System," see: http://www.gradeinflation.com/