22Nov
College Professor is horrible & now I am about to fail-What can I do?
7 comments so farMy dilemma is that I am a college freshman and have a chemistry Professor who is truly horrible at teaching. The entire class average is a 60. We try to ask questions in class and have him explain things, but he just laughs at us without answering. The tests never contain material that we are studying-always obscure stuff that is randomly taken from the back of the book; or outright trick questions designed to make you fail. He gives notes and tells us the test will be from this, but it never is. Now at the point of not being able to drop the class, he finally gives us our grades back. It took a mass emailing campaign to the department head to even get our first 2 test grades back to us to see how we are doing. We received them today and I failed both of them. Now I am sick because I must absolutely ace my next test and my final to even get out with the minimum grade. I have been studying and working with tutors and am studying 8 hours a day to prepare for the next tests and if I fail, I just feel like giving up altogether. I don’t know what to do. It’s not like I haven’t been trying. When I talk with others that have the same exact class, just different teachers, they are studying completely different material than my class. I am going to school on student loans so every class counts. To get into medical school I must make excellent grades or risk not being accepted. Don’t professors have some type of rules that they must follow and be accountable for their lack of proper teaching? I am more than willing to accept my own failings and lack of knowledge, but when does it become the responsibility of the professor to teach me?
I was told that this professor was removed from teaching another chemistry level class because of issues such as this. The department head is aware of his “teaching style” but apparently since he has tenure, they just let him continue…According to the rate my professor website, historically he states in his syllabus that he will drop lowest grade and then doesn’t. He has already said he won’t curve the grades, so I guess I am screwed….
Update Well I took my test today. After many complaints to the dept. head, the prof decided to send us an email at 8PM last night giving us a link to our books website that he was apparently supposed to give to us at the start of the semester that has our study materials and charts on it that he has been giving tests on all along. Go figure! The good thing is that I immediately went to it and was able to find very good resources to study from and print charts as study guides. He even allowed us to use 1 small index card of notes on the test today, as well as added 20 bonus questions that came straight from the website. I feel that I did well on it. Unfortunately, the majority of the class didn’t check that email and were unaware before the test about it. If I did well on this test and on my final I may still be able to squeak by with a min. passing grade & maybe take it over down the road & still be able to progress to the next level next semester. Keep your fingers crossed! Thanks all
Categories: Higher Education (University +)
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Higher Education (University +). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I’m sorry to say, but really professors have their own rules in teaching throughout universities and higher levels. Its not high school, were you can just tell up to the principal about your teacher and complain etc…
But of course staying positive, I would talk with the professor myself If i were you. Tell him you’re serious enough, and make a few suggestions about how he might help some classmates out in teaching? Something similar like that. Wish you luck my friend.
See if you can get a good percentage of the class together and schedule a meeting with the department head. Focus on the first things you mentioned - lack of help, getting grades back late, take tests in with you for examples, bring in your homework if it supports your studying claims. Don’t bring up things like ‘I need a good grade in this class’, it just sounds like you’re whining. If enough of you complain, there’s a decent chance they’ll decide to do something about it - and there’s always a good chance your prof will have to curve the grades anyway if the class average is pretty much failing. He can’t get away with failing half a intro course.
But remember, the job of the prof is not to teach you everything you need to know. That was high school - this is college. You meet less often and you’re responsible for a lot more material. They’ll point in the right direction, get you working on it, but a lot of it is up to you in the end.
I think you and your classmates should go to the department head and state your case. I know that if so many students drop his class or fail he will be investigated.
Gather a petition of students in the class that the teacher is not teaching properly, not giving fair tests, etc. Take it to the chair of the Chemistry department or the Dean of the College of Sciences. Just explain the situation, maybe even see if they will attend a class and sit in the back or something and watch without being seen.
Sounds like a real problem, but definitely talk to someone in a higher position about it, you shouldn’t just sit back and fail the class if it is truly unfair.
Good luck.
You have stated your case remarkably well on this forum. Now, take it one step further and report this professor to the provost (or top academic dean) at your school. You appear to have decent evidence. It would be even better if you could assemble a small group of like-minded students. It would especially help if somebody who has excellent grades otherwise is experiencing what you are in this course, and he/she could go with you to the provost. But don’t wait until the grades are final… go now!
You need to find out what the academic grievance process is at your school. It’s probably located in your academic handbook or on your school’s website. Otherwise, the Dean of Students or Dean of the College should be able to point you toward it.
Typically, the process goes like this: first, sit down with the member of the faculty you’re having a problem with. If that doesn’t work, you meet with the department chair or someone in the academic administration. They will try to help you get to the bottom of the problem. If that doesn’t work, you can file an official complaint which will be considered by some administrative committee. If they find in your favor, usually what will happen is that the professor will be asked to change your grade, or you will be allowed to drop the class without penalty. But again, make sure you look at this policy yourself, and see if you have a college ombudsperson (who is kind of like a legal advocate for students) who can help you understand it as well.
In the meantime, you should be sure to clearly document all the ways in which your professor has inhibited your ability to learn, and make sure you can prove them. Keep your notes, your handouts, assignment sheets, and tests so that you can show that he is not giving you adequate direction to succeed on the exams. Talk to your classmates so they can do the same.
I know at my school you can retake the class for a better grade later. If it seems like your classmates with different professors are doing much better, that might also be an option. Good luck!
sorry to hear about this, I’m a college senior business finance major and currently have 2 professors who really give the class a horrible time.
I’d love to help u but like all of us in university, we’re stuck in the wrong and you’ll just have to do your best to pass the class.There are good teachers, but the bad ones are horrible and unfair. I even heard ppl from science major complaining at school library about the kind of things they do……..what can u do, just keep ur chin up, stay float and pass it. Don’t think about failing now……..just muster up ur strength and do everything u can to pass.
my marketing teacher has already failed half the class. I studied better for the 2nd exam and did worse than the first. But I checked the grade and is currently in the upper 64% (this guy has most of the class in the 20%-30 percentile). The statistic teacher is trully the worst I have ever had. This is such a bad class that I wished some years from now I”ll never have to look back again (I’m graduating with a BA next year).
Look, I know this is hard for you. For now, don’t waste anymore time on yahoo answers and seriously get on with chemistry. Just remember one thing, it’s not the end of the world if you cannot make it into grad school, okay? Again, I;m sure this is ur major priority but for now, worry about passing this class.
My marketing teacher never really teaches ANYTHING in class, it’s a complete waste of time, but we still need to read the book and somehow pass it. I;m not having a greta time currently, it gives me endless worries and the future as well, just remember those teacher are not perfect, they grade unfairly, but just try ur best and (seriously) don;t give up.
PS: ask someone who has an above average grade how he/she makes the grade. for chem, don’t memorize notes too much, make sure u link the concepts mentally together. It’s neither about spending tons of hours nor about taking massive notes, you should take concise notes (less), make sure u understand the key points that links each chapter together, and don’t ever memorize the whole book but take note on key diagrams and molecular structure?
Ur chem teacher does it EXACTLY the way my stats+marketing teachers do here…..T__T
LOL did u fell sick because of chem?? I fell sick (and just recovered) from Marketing+statistics……those guys have NO IDEA what kind of pressure they’re putting on students nowadays. it’s not about tenure, for stats this guy is doctorate and nobody in class seriously can understand him, they have gotten so advanced that they forgot how to teach in a way that benefits students (stepping down a little from the corporate ladder)
ps: Cyn, you sound really desperate (^__^), same here with me, I’m desperate to the death and those guys have no clue how difficult we’re doing here…..sigh*
for now, don;t think about failing, make sure u prepare for the exam and do ur reading on key points.
PS: they may have an “impressive resume”, or even ph.d. some of them seriously CAN’T teach, I have had enough headache with the college of business. (so does other business majors). They need to go back and re-take their teaching credentials, or learn how to interact with human beings. No kiddin, some of their exam Q have NOTHING to do with the chapter tested (what’s the point of testing it anyways)……the failure of modern day education.
It’s not because u’re not smart, but those guys need to take a look at how they teach, or whether they’re doing it for themselves or are they really trying to help the students. Or are they there to intimidate students with the “abundance” of their knowledge, or just to waste time