Bad professors:wwyd

[PrincessFiona]

Last semester, Andrew dropped calc 1. Problem? He couldn't understand the prof who was a non-native speaker that spoke with a very thick accent. He pulled a c on the first test by studying the book on his own but as the class progressed the situation got grim. More than 1/2 the class dropped and he joined them.

Calc 1 take two. American female. She doesn't teach by the book, makes up her own problems and tells the kids "not my fault you can't keep up" when asked for clarification. She refuses to explain things more than once saying not her fault students are "too dumb"

When Andrew told me this, I was skeptical of his portrayal. I went to ratemyprofessor and found similar stories.

Of course the drop and get tuition refunded deadline has passed. I told him he has to tough it out. He wondered allowed how he will learn when you can't ask questions and the book is off limits.

I know the golden rule is don't contact the school.

Let him drop yet again? Research the holy f*** out of the next potential prof? Let his GPA take a major hit and force him to stay?

Kris

Why do universities let profs teach who don't speak English or who are so poorly rated?

[Vanquisher]

He has to research the profs before signing up. Use rate my professor as the gold that it is. Seriously. If he can pull a c or better, tough it out. If he can't, drop.


Heidi

[PrincessFiona]

I told him to try sticking it out for awhile. Kid is outraged. "I need this class. I need it!"

[alotofyarn]

If he delays it for too long, will it delay his graduation with other courses that require it? He definitely needs to research the professors in advance.

Re: why do they hire these professors? Because sometimes it's all you can get, because nobody else wants to teach lower level classes, and some of the foreign faculty work for less money?

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I had a prof like this. Intro to calc which was review for 98% of people (not me...), the prof wrote his own book, made us by it, and would not provide any additional problems or explanations. It was my first semester and I was totally overwhelmed. The class had 120 people in it and he gave 3, 10 question tests, no partial credit. I barely made a C. Barely. I was so pissed. But it taught me a lot about getting prof recs/talking to people before signing up for classes. This will be good for him to handle and get through it with your coaching.

[spaz]

I'm going to second looking up profs beforehand... Do it on a variety of sites. My son will sign up for a different class rather than take a bad prof.

[fluffhead]

Is there peer tutoring at the school - or can you get him an outside tutor?
My college had a pamphlet you could buy in the bookstore to get a sneak peek at the profs and how they were rated.

[spaz]

Peer tutoring!!! YES, great idea!!! Most colleges have that!!! They get students that made A's in that class to help the other students.

[Sheherezade]

If he can't get the better rated teachers due to issues with availability (that's happened for my kid), I've heard of some kids just going to the other section with the good professor and taking tests in their "real" class. It's a huge waste of time, obviously, but if he needs to learn the material, he should find out who is really able to teach it on rate my professors and then go to their section if they can. I'm assuming Calc 1 is a huge class.


Angie

[Vanquisher]

Yes. Also, wait lists.


Heidi

[SoonerTexan]

Are there any office hours or tutoring programs sponsored by the dept? You are kind of out of luck in the higher level classes, but I would be really surprised if there were nothing for lower level calc that everyone has to take.

At OU there was a study hall for 2-3 hours 2x week staffed by the different teachers. I basically lived there each week and did my homework there. No way around it

[bokelley]

He is stuck. I am pretty sure Calc 1-3 I should have gotten a foreign language credit.

[JustRightKelly]

We had some cool tutoring businesses near campus at UF, tutoring zone was one, and they had great tutors that taught one on one and big group exam reviews in a fun and entertaining way.. I went there for calc and bio reviews.


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[PrincessFiona]

We'll have to work something out. Yesterday he came home with a 50% reduction in grade because his handwriting was too sloppy. Frankly, I thought it was his best printing. Sigh. I should have gotten him OT as a child. There is no way he'll get higher than 50% for homework grades if this is the case. She gave him a zero on his other homework because he tore the pages from a notebook and left that papery crap on the side. No grading. Zero

I get having standards, but she sounds like a bitch.

[alotofyarn]

That does sound absolutely ridiculous. Does she have policies in her syllabus about expectations for homework with respect to handwriting and paper type? If not, I feel like this is something that he could talk to an ombudsperson about. As a professor, I'm generally against going above or around them for issues, but it really sounds like she's being unreasonable.