Comments | first_seventhe: Tests

first_seventhe

Tests

Oct 23, 2007 07:48

( This was supposed to be me venting about a horrible test and it has somehow turned into a rant on higher education and why I hate that professors are often such fucking assholes who refuse to take responsibility for their own goddam jobs. An actual rant, with a point and all. )

grad school, i require alcohol, bitch is not pleased, i can whine in my lj if i want to, you're doing it wrong, wow my brains hurt, sev capslock(tm), rants: "higher" education, studying sucks a nut, investments in my future, things that suck a dick

Comments 40

lassarina October 24 2007, 01:30:29 UTC

You would have worshiped my favourite undergrad history professor (the one whom I took three classes from despite the fact that the workload from any one class of his was worth 2.5 other history classes). The second class I took with him? Final paper topic was on the syllabus he handed out day one. ♥

I will bite them for you!

first_seventhe October 24 2007, 11:42:23 UTC

*summons "Angry Meglet"*

lassarina October 24 2007, 12:46:19 UTC

*chomps on stupid professors and shreds with Angry Kitten Claws of DOOM! (tm)*

(The comment has been removed)

first_seventhe October 24 2007, 11:44:34 UTC

Yeah, I was a moron who took Honors O-Chem because I heard the prof was "better". One test I got a 32. The highest grade was a 65%. My 32 was a C. To me, that just says you can't write a fucking test. I shouldn't be getting an A in a course I also scored a 32 in. Something is just not right there.

They are fuckers. The whole system is (mostly)* broken.

*Mostly, because every now and then you meet that one inspiring prof who likes teaching and likes students and changes your life. Sometimes.

aesriella October 24 2007, 10:28:25 UTC

Blegh, sorry abut the test ( ... )

aesriella October 24 2007, 10:28:41 UTC

I know what you mean by loads of teachers too; I have 8 teachers for GS (rotates every week, 1 lesson/week), 1 for Geography, 2 for Lit (4/week), 2 for History (5/week) but worst f all is three teachers for only four lessons of French a week. It's a nightmare ( ... )

first_seventhe October 24 2007, 11:47:35 UTC

First of all, this was hilarious to read mostly because of your "o" key. XD

Second, yeah, I'm glad it's not just me that feels this way. I get so angry, though, because the students are the ones PAYING for this experience, and -- well, what's the ratio of "profs you actually like" to "profs that pretty much dicked you over"? Not very good, in my personal experience. Not 0, but not very good.

lassarina October 24 2007, 12:49:25 UTC

I...maybe Northwestern is weird! But I really only remember one prof (and it wasn't even a prof, she was a TA) who dicked me over. I was varying degrees of neutral to a lot of my profesosrs, and just flat out loved some of them. Then again, part of the reason I went into history was because the history department was so much awesome.

Thread 9

justfriending October 27 2007, 22:19:12 UTC

I do have to say, as a fairly new science professor at a major university... (and this is not all aimed at you; some is a response to the tenor of the comments that your post has gotten ( ... )

first_seventhe October 28 2007, 16:45:48 UTC

I'm glad to hear that there are some people out there still who go into higher education for the, y'know, "education" portion ( ... )

justfriending October 28 2007, 20:16:10 UTC

I can go on forever about it! Given that I care a great deal about teaching and all, ya know =) By the way - in case it is not explicitly clear elsewhere in the post - thank you for taking my comments seriously; I am enjoying this discussion, and I am not taking anything personally or aiming anything personal at you!

Even anonymous, there probably aren't that many fandom-obsessed profs in my field so I'll leave potentially identifying details aside; I'll just say I'm in one of the hard sciences that is sufficiently research driven that I'm expected to pull in multi-millions in grant funding to be granted tenure. Yes, at the same time as I'm expected to maintain quality in teaching. The way the other profs phrase it is that while good teaching is not sufficient to get you tenure over bad research, it is necessary and thus bad teaching can get you denied tenure.

I've been lucky enough to never be caught in a team-taught course. They're incredibly difficult to put together. The idea is supposed to be that each prof can teach ( ... )

i am fairly sure this will break the comment limit, too first_seventhe October 28 2007, 23:54:06 UTC

Ditto back at you -- I am enjoying this discussion, and I certainly hope YOU aren't taking anything personally as well. I also hope it doesn't sound like I am too down on academia! Most of the "ranting" is usually a reactionary thing from people in academia looking down on me because I am an industrial researcher. I certainly have a lot of respect for academia in general, and in specific I HAVE had the great opportunity to learn from a couple of really good profs who have definitely made their mark on my education. And, obviously, I'm getting a grad degree; I can't think it's all bullshit, right? XD ( ... )

Thread 7