(no subject)
Okay, here's the deal. This is a letter to the dean about the exploits of a certain Nigerian professor who shall remain nameless. I have included lots of detail and examples just to be thorough. I need input as to what parts of the letter I should keep, shorten, and remove, or if it's even worth sending it at all. Am I making too much out of the whole experience? Also, it'd be nice to have it proofread because I didn't really go over it too much. Thanks for your help.
Dear. Dr. _______
I am an undeclared sophomore here at Rowan University. This fall, I took ________ with Dr. _______. I am writing to inform you of how dreadfully disappointed I was with the entire experience.
Aside from general confusion regarding assignments and a resulting frustration which I cannot begin to convey on paper, Dr. ______'s class presented me with several other undue stressors. I feel that these errors must be communicated to his supervisor.
In November, Dr. ______ assigned a take-home essay to our class. I had a topic which, I felt, could be thoroughly covered in a few sentences, as opposed to the several paragraphs the professor was requiring. When I ask Dr. ______ how he felt I should handle the problem, he replied with, “I like b.s,” implying that it did not matter what I wrote, but, instead, how much I wrote. I was (and still am) astonished that a professor would utter such a reply to a student in need of help. Not only was this response rather unhelpful, but it was extremely unprofessional. The only positive result of such an utterance is that it clearly illustrates, in his own words, what type of work Dr. ______ requires of his students.
In addition to his unorthodox essay requirements, Dr. ______ appeared to struggle in grading assignments. I say this because, in several instances, I was the victim of incorrect grades. On the first test of the semester, I lost only 5 points on one question, but was given a 40/50 on the test. In that he does not speak to students about grades after class, I had to visit him during his office hours; he told me to leave the test with him. I got it back a few days later with 42.5 out of 50 written on top. I have no idea how he arrived at this grade, but did not feel it was worth it to return to him during his office hours to question the 2.5 points he had not given me. So, I chose to accept the inaccurate grade. Unfortunately, this experience only foreshadowied what was to come.
On another assignment (the aforementioned take-home essay), the entire class received 0's. He told us to re-do the assignment and that he wanted "more” this time. However, I felt I had written a more-than adequate amount, so I went to his office to speak to him. When I questioned my grade, he said I had lost the points because I needed to have two paragraphs for each example in my essay. I pointed out that, in fact, I did have two paragraphs per example. He then told me that if I thought I was right that I should just hand it in again without making changes. So, I turned it in again and I received full credit. My question is, if my assignment was correct from the beginning, why did I first receive a 0 and, furthermore, why was I told to do it over? I feel it should not be my responsibility to seek out a professor and challenge him only to procure the proper grade, the grade which I should have received initially.
Going further, Dr. ______ told the class that if we made the proper changes to this, and one other assignment, we would receive an exemption from the next test. When he returned the assignments to me, with full credit on both, he still had not marked me exempt from the next test. Because he refuses to discuss assignments with students after class, I had to, yet again, visit him during office hours. Again, he tried to explain to me why I did not receive the credit I deserved, and, again, I showed him that I was correct; he then exempted me from the up-coming test.
In a similar case, I received a grade of 10 out of 30 on an assignment, which I felt was unjustified. When I went to speak to him, however, I was not allowed to argue my point. After looking at my other grades in the class and, apparently deciding that they were high enough, Dr. ______ refused to discuss my grade on this assignment with me. I put a good deal of time and effort into the assignment and feel I should have been duly credited.
The fact that he seemed unconcerned with the low grade lead me to believe that I was in good standing to receive an A in the class. In fact, at the end of the semester, based on my assignment grades, that is the grade anticipated getting. However, when I checked online, I was disappointed to see that I had been given an A-. The sad truth is, however, that he had such a great deal of trouble handling the grading throughout the semester that I almost expected my course to be incorrect, as well.
Trying to remedy this error resulted in me having to sacrifice an extraordinary amount of time (I left the first voice-mail on January 19), numerous phone calls, and several trips to Professor ______'s office. On February 2 (the day he was to bring my grades in to review), he informed me that he had forgotten the grading sheet, but that he was in the process of changing the grade, anyway. Finally, two weeks into the following semester, Dr. Ikpah had begun working to fix my grade. I am waiting to hear from him this Friday.
I hope you understand that this is not an attack on you, nor on your department. In fact, I have had the delight of partaking in communication courses taught by wonderful professors in your department, including Dr. Ed Streb and Dr. Joy Cypher. However, as is evident, my semester with Dr. ______ was the antithesis of one under Professor Streb or Professor Cypher. It was peppered with unprofessional remarks, frustrating moments, and numerous visits to his office during office-hours (to which he was frequently late, or, in one instance, not there at all) seeking to correct blatant, potentially-costly mistakes. I can only imagine what my course grade would have been had I not made a conscious effort to monitor the grading of Dr. ______ on a regular basis throughout the semester. I send you this letter not to create a feud between Dr. _____ and me, but, rather, just to inform you of what is occuring inside (and outside) of his classroom.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Respectfully,
Jeff Nicholas
Dear. Dr. _______
I am an undeclared sophomore here at Rowan University. This fall, I took ________ with Dr. _______. I am writing to inform you of how dreadfully disappointed I was with the entire experience.
Aside from general confusion regarding assignments and a resulting frustration which I cannot begin to convey on paper, Dr. ______'s class presented me with several other undue stressors. I feel that these errors must be communicated to his supervisor.
In November, Dr. ______ assigned a take-home essay to our class. I had a topic which, I felt, could be thoroughly covered in a few sentences, as opposed to the several paragraphs the professor was requiring. When I ask Dr. ______ how he felt I should handle the problem, he replied with, “I like b.s,” implying that it did not matter what I wrote, but, instead, how much I wrote. I was (and still am) astonished that a professor would utter such a reply to a student in need of help. Not only was this response rather unhelpful, but it was extremely unprofessional. The only positive result of such an utterance is that it clearly illustrates, in his own words, what type of work Dr. ______ requires of his students.
In addition to his unorthodox essay requirements, Dr. ______ appeared to struggle in grading assignments. I say this because, in several instances, I was the victim of incorrect grades. On the first test of the semester, I lost only 5 points on one question, but was given a 40/50 on the test. In that he does not speak to students about grades after class, I had to visit him during his office hours; he told me to leave the test with him. I got it back a few days later with 42.5 out of 50 written on top. I have no idea how he arrived at this grade, but did not feel it was worth it to return to him during his office hours to question the 2.5 points he had not given me. So, I chose to accept the inaccurate grade. Unfortunately, this experience only foreshadowied what was to come.
On another assignment (the aforementioned take-home essay), the entire class received 0's. He told us to re-do the assignment and that he wanted "more” this time. However, I felt I had written a more-than adequate amount, so I went to his office to speak to him. When I questioned my grade, he said I had lost the points because I needed to have two paragraphs for each example in my essay. I pointed out that, in fact, I did have two paragraphs per example. He then told me that if I thought I was right that I should just hand it in again without making changes. So, I turned it in again and I received full credit. My question is, if my assignment was correct from the beginning, why did I first receive a 0 and, furthermore, why was I told to do it over? I feel it should not be my responsibility to seek out a professor and challenge him only to procure the proper grade, the grade which I should have received initially.
Going further, Dr. ______ told the class that if we made the proper changes to this, and one other assignment, we would receive an exemption from the next test. When he returned the assignments to me, with full credit on both, he still had not marked me exempt from the next test. Because he refuses to discuss assignments with students after class, I had to, yet again, visit him during office hours. Again, he tried to explain to me why I did not receive the credit I deserved, and, again, I showed him that I was correct; he then exempted me from the up-coming test.
In a similar case, I received a grade of 10 out of 30 on an assignment, which I felt was unjustified. When I went to speak to him, however, I was not allowed to argue my point. After looking at my other grades in the class and, apparently deciding that they were high enough, Dr. ______ refused to discuss my grade on this assignment with me. I put a good deal of time and effort into the assignment and feel I should have been duly credited.
The fact that he seemed unconcerned with the low grade lead me to believe that I was in good standing to receive an A in the class. In fact, at the end of the semester, based on my assignment grades, that is the grade anticipated getting. However, when I checked online, I was disappointed to see that I had been given an A-. The sad truth is, however, that he had such a great deal of trouble handling the grading throughout the semester that I almost expected my course to be incorrect, as well.
Trying to remedy this error resulted in me having to sacrifice an extraordinary amount of time (I left the first voice-mail on January 19), numerous phone calls, and several trips to Professor ______'s office. On February 2 (the day he was to bring my grades in to review), he informed me that he had forgotten the grading sheet, but that he was in the process of changing the grade, anyway. Finally, two weeks into the following semester, Dr. Ikpah had begun working to fix my grade. I am waiting to hear from him this Friday.
I hope you understand that this is not an attack on you, nor on your department. In fact, I have had the delight of partaking in communication courses taught by wonderful professors in your department, including Dr. Ed Streb and Dr. Joy Cypher. However, as is evident, my semester with Dr. ______ was the antithesis of one under Professor Streb or Professor Cypher. It was peppered with unprofessional remarks, frustrating moments, and numerous visits to his office during office-hours (to which he was frequently late, or, in one instance, not there at all) seeking to correct blatant, potentially-costly mistakes. I can only imagine what my course grade would have been had I not made a conscious effort to monitor the grading of Dr. ______ on a regular basis throughout the semester. I send you this letter not to create a feud between Dr. _____ and me, but, rather, just to inform you of what is occuring inside (and outside) of his classroom.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Respectfully,
Jeff Nicholas