7.03 makes me angry

[aliothsan]

It's a intro genetics class. This stuff hasn't changed that much in the last ten years. (Lac operon and all the other classic experiments were done in the 60s and 70s, come on.) I didn't come to MIT to teach myself about yeast tetrad analysis by googling up the sense-making, well-written discussions of the subject from other colleges because the

Comments

[timprov]

You might write a letter to the deans. Doubtless MIT doesn't want to be providing this level of service, either. And complaints about professors, at least the non-tenured kind, tend to have a substantial impact on their continues employment at almost every school.

[aliothsan]

I don't think it's that bad. And for better or worse, this is unabashedly a research institution, more than a teaching one.

[aliothsan]

I'd be cool with it being off campus if it wasn't cold and windy and right next to a noisy street and crowded and not enough chairs.

[rysmiel]

It's a intro genetics class. This stuff hasn't changed that much in the last ten years.

*cough*RNA editing*cough*horizontal gene transfer*cough*

[aliothsan]

We haven't gotten nearly that far yet. I'm aware that a lot of neat stuff has been going on, but the basics of the lac operon, for crying out loud, haven't changed much. You'd think they would have figured out how to teach it effectively by now.

[anonymous]

Have you tried going to see the profs and asking for more interesting material? Maybe it is a lost cause... I don't know. But if you go to a TA meeting and the guy does not show, maybe it is time to let the profs know. They may have an interest to ensure that their inadequate teaching is not being supplemented with rigorous TAship.

Also check out this blog on the importance of 1-on-1 meetings, just for laughs, but maybe future reference
http://amps-tools.mit.edu/tomprofblog/archives/2008/09/892_the_essenti.html

Cat I