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I will not say what school I go to, for obvious reasons, but suffice to say it is in Los Angeles.
I am in my second semester and am a 4.0 GPA and loving my classes, in the field of electronics. I loved them so much i am beginning next semester to do my GE courses so i can get a bachelor's in electrical engineering. My education means EVERYTHING to me right now and i am pouring my whole soul into it. so that makes what is happening so much more rankling.
i have a class called "science of electronics". my teacher, whom i will call mr. chavez, is ....well.....probably a bit insane. he is also bitter, against the entire department and i imagine the entire school district. and its leaving me in something of a quandry.
he started the class last week by telling us of his attempts to get his own textbook published which is based on bloom's taxonomy, and integrates many separate disciplines into one far earlier than most electronics/engineering students usually experience. we are kinda starting out really simple, learning to build simple circuits and working our way through prealgebra to get to the heavy stuff. chavez's approach is more holistic, putting us in the depths earlier and bringing in a wider range view to all the information we will have to digest as engineering students over the next few years (chem, math of all sorts including and especially calculus, physics, even critical thinking etc). being that i am a rabid student, an older gal who is in no way wasting any time, and would fight wolverines to make it to school on time, i was absolutely in my element. i thought, YEAH, we are gonna get this revolutionary learning experience and we can take as much out of it as we want. all sounds great, right?
except he definitely let us know last week that he had a very deep grudge against the heads of the technology department, because they had not assisted with his getting his textbook published and had cut his salary by half. they refused to offer any money for the students to complete some complex (and now optional) projects, and he even went so far as to put the salaries of the two heads of the department on the board. underneath he wrote "this is your tax dollars and they will not give a hundred dollars per student so that you can have a better education". ok. i thought, well, maybe he is right, and right to be bitter, and maybe this textbook and this whole experience is gonna be completely revolutionary. because, chavez said, he was throwing out the whole playbook and giving us the textbook for free. he was also giving us the midterm, which we could take all semester to complete, and if we didn't want to do the midterm (which we took home with us, BTW) we could take the free MIT class in electricity and magnetism instead, and bring a certificate of completion and that would get us an A. he said, he wasn't taking roll, he wasn't making us do the projects, but we had all this free info and the textbook and bring a flash drive so he could give it to all of us. which we did.
i was mightily intrigued to look at the all the materials he had given us, and there were power point presentations and videos and all sorts of stuff in there. but what really blew my mind was that midterm. this is where it gets a little spooky.
the midterm had 100 questions on it, and i am not kidding, 25 of them were in this vein..."the Heads of this department have cut Chavez's salary by half. this causes a) his family to suffer b) your education to suffer c) mental hardship or d) all of the above." others were "the head of this department earns 118,000 a year and cannot bring himself to give you anything but a third world education because they are a) greedy b) don't care c) ignorant d) all of the above". at first i laughed, then i became disturbed. the class was looking at this stuff in sort of shock. and my ideas that maybe i was in this revolutionary class went right down the tubes. i am paying MONEY For this class. i want an education. Sure, i can get alot out of it if i follow his directions, but it angers me that he doesn't seem to care about wanting to teach us and is trying to exact some sort of revenge on the faculty by way of the students, which is terribly inappropriate.
the BIGGEST issue i have, above all, is that the assistant head of this department, and one of the people whose salaries he posted on the board, is a very excellent teacher that i had last semester and who is responsible for me wanting to go into engineering, and spent alot of time with me working through my educational goals and giving me GREAT advice. he told me, "you are the type of student every teacher dreams of, because you are so excited about learning". his class was difficult, REALLY difficult, but he was a GREAT teacher, patient, affable, everything you want out of a teacher. he has a bit of a cult really, my fellow students had nothing but great things to say about him. and here mr. chavez was slandering him, putting his name and salary on the board, saying that he didn't care about your education and was a fat cat and all the rest, and i know that is not true.
it feels almost like malpractice, like something is very wrong, and a right needs to happen. i am just not sure what to do. the teacher i spoke of above, he was my electronics teacher and i really plan on asking for more of his guidance in the future and i kinda feel protective of him. but if i am taking a class and at the beginning i rat the guy out, then that means i fail. i just don't know what to do, and what the right course is. i don't want to keep my mouth shut forever, because he is really systematically trying to ruin the reps of a very good teacher and that isn't right. i can tell by his manner that he has probably gone off the deep end. any advice on this bizarre situation?
I am a college professor, and I am all for academic freedom, but your professor sounds really, really angry, and honestly, totally nuts.
What do you mean when you say you would fail if you "rat him out"? Number 1, how would he know it's you? And number 2, doesn't your college have avenues that students can pursue if they have questions about their grades?
I am a college professor, and I am all for academic freedom, but your professor sounds really, really angry, and honestly, totally nuts.
What do you mean when you say you would fail if you "rat him out"? Number 1, how would he know it's you? And number 2, doesn't your college have avenues that students can pursue if they have questions about their grades?
Good luck, and let us know what happens.
well, if i am midstream in the course and if i were to go to mr. y (the GOOD teacher whom chavez calls a fat cat) and say that chavez is slandering him, i could lose what COULD be an interesting learning experience. i don't mean to be cold blooded but i am the sort of independent learner who can get alot out of this class. but alot of people aren't like that. so i wouldn't want to put the experience in jeopardy, but then i think, what experience? he isn't TEACHING you anything. he just gave you a book. but then i think, what if they shut down the class and where does that leave me? i don't want an A like this. i want to learn. i really truly do. and i know mr. y is a great teacher and it makes me angry that his rep is being smeared by what could be a madman.
just clarifying my terms there. and no, he wouldn't know it was me, i guess, but i am just a stranger to this sort of bizarre situation, totally. i suppose there is some method by which i could blow the whistle and no one would know, but can i ask you, as a college professor, what would happen to the class in that scenario? would the class end early mid semester, would they bring in another teacher? what happens?
... what would happen to the class in that scenario? would the class end early mid semester, would they bring in another teacher? what happens?
I assume it varies depending on the school. At my college we've occasionally had to replace a professor during the semester due to illness etc., and we bring in a substitute. It's a difficult situation of course (for the substitute prof as well as for the students), but we certainly couldn't and wouldn't cancel a class that's been running.
They will bring in a sub, I did it before for a guy who got arrested. The guy has gone off the deep end, plain and simple. You are paying for that class. If he isn't teaching, you aren't getting your money's worth. You have to decide if it's worth complaining about.
I will not say what school I go to, for obvious reasons, but suffice to say it is in Los Angeles.
I am in my second semester and am a 4.0 GPA and loving my classes, in the field of electronics. I loved them so much i am beginning next semester to do my GE courses so i can get a bachelor's in electrical engineering. My education means EVERYTHING to me right now and i am pouring my whole soul into it. so that makes what is happening so much more rankling.
i have a class called "science of electronics". my teacher, whom i will call mr. chavez, is ....well.....probably a bit insane. he is also bitter, against the entire department and i imagine the entire school district. and its leaving me in something of a quandry.
he started the class last week by telling us of his attempts to get his own textbook published which is based on bloom's taxonomy, and integrates many separate disciplines into one far earlier than most electronics/engineering students usually experience. we are kinda starting out really simple, learning to build simple circuits and working our way through prealgebra to get to the heavy stuff. chavez's approach is more holistic, putting us in the depths earlier and bringing in a wider range view to all the information we will have to digest as engineering students over the next few years (chem, math of all sorts including and especially calculus, physics, even critical thinking etc). being that i am a rabid student, an older gal who is in no way wasting any time, and would fight wolverines to make it to school on time, i was absolutely in my element. i thought, YEAH, we are gonna get this revolutionary learning experience and we can take as much out of it as we want. all sounds great, right?
except he definitely let us know last week that he had a very deep grudge against the heads of the technology department, because they had not assisted with his getting his textbook published and had cut his salary by half. they refused to offer any money for the students to complete some complex (and now optional) projects, and he even went so far as to put the salaries of the two heads of the department on the board. underneath he wrote "this is your tax dollars and they will not give a hundred dollars per student so that you can have a better education". ok. i thought, well, maybe he is right, and right to be bitter, and maybe this textbook and this whole experience is gonna be completely revolutionary. because, chavez said, he was throwing out the whole playbook and giving us the textbook for free. he was also giving us the midterm, which we could take all semester to complete, and if we didn't want to do the midterm (which we took home with us, BTW) we could take the free MIT class in electricity and magnetism instead, and bring a certificate of completion and that would get us an A. he said, he wasn't taking roll, he wasn't making us do the projects, but we had all this free info and the textbook and bring a flash drive so he could give it to all of us. which we did.
i was mightily intrigued to look at the all the materials he had given us, and there were power point presentations and videos and all sorts of stuff in there. but what really blew my mind was that midterm. this is where it gets a little spooky.
the midterm had 100 questions on it, and i am not kidding, 25 of them were in this vein..."the Heads of this department have cut Chavez's salary by half. this causes a) his family to suffer b) your education to suffer c) mental hardship or d) all of the above." others were "the head of this department earns 118,000 a year and cannot bring himself to give you anything but a third world education because they are a) greedy b) don't care c) ignorant d) all of the above". at first i laughed, then i became disturbed. the class was looking at this stuff in sort of shock. and my ideas that maybe i was in this revolutionary class went right down the tubes. i am paying MONEY For this class. i want an education. Sure, i can get alot out of it if i follow his directions, but it angers me that he doesn't seem to care about wanting to teach us and is trying to exact some sort of revenge on the faculty by way of the students, which is terribly inappropriate.
the BIGGEST issue i have, above all, is that the assistant head of this department, and one of the people whose salaries he posted on the board, is a very excellent teacher that i had last semester and who is responsible for me wanting to go into engineering, and spent alot of time with me working through my educational goals and giving me GREAT advice. he told me, "you are the type of student every teacher dreams of, because you are so excited about learning". his class was difficult, REALLY difficult, but he was a GREAT teacher, patient, affable, everything you want out of a teacher. he has a bit of a cult really, my fellow students had nothing but great things to say about him. and here mr. chavez was slandering him, putting his name and salary on the board, saying that he didn't care about your education and was a fat cat and all the rest, and i know that is not true.
it feels almost like malpractice, like something is very wrong, and a right needs to happen. i am just not sure what to do. the teacher i spoke of above, he was my electronics teacher and i really plan on asking for more of his guidance in the future and i kinda feel protective of him. but if i am taking a class and at the beginning i rat the guy out, then that means i fail. i just don't know what to do, and what the right course is. i don't want to keep my mouth shut forever, because he is really systematically trying to ruin the reps of a very good teacher and that isn't right. i can tell by his manner that he has probably gone off the deep end. any advice on this bizarre situation?
rat him out?? what is this, 3rd grade? you are paying money for that class, and you're getting nothing. not to mention it's completely inappropriate and unprofessional. take everything to the dept head or dean ASAP. If nothing else, you need a refund. i work in a college - anyone who did that would be fired, and justifiably so.
well, if i am midstream in the course and if i were to go to mr. y (the GOOD teacher whom chavez calls a fat cat) and say that chavez is slandering him, i could lose what COULD be an interesting learning experience. i don't mean to be cold blooded but i am the sort of independent learner who can get alot out of this class. but alot of people aren't like that. so i wouldn't want to put the experience in jeopardy, but then i think, what experience? he isn't TEACHING you anything. he just gave you a book. but then i think, what if they shut down the class and where does that leave me? i don't want an A like this. i want to learn. i really truly do. and i know mr. y is a great teacher and it makes me angry that his rep is being smeared by what could be a madman.
just clarifying my terms there. and no, he wouldn't know it was me, i guess, but i am just a stranger to this sort of bizarre situation, totally. i suppose there is some method by which i could blow the whistle and no one would know, but can i ask you, as a college professor, what would happen to the class in that scenario? would the class end early mid semester, would they bring in another teacher? what happens?
This is not about slander. This is about a course that is not appropriate. It's about you paid tuition and you are getting nothing. It's very nearly illegal. Don't be immature. Act professional and complain about the quality of the class - don't talk about slander or anything like that. This is not a grade school clique where you are taking sides. Show the midterm exam and that should be all you need to say. Also, you do not need to go to the dept head. You can also go to the dean of students. Maybe you should, given that the dept head is involved and the whole thing is very uncomfortable- you really should not be in the middle of it.
You will not suffer for it. They'll get a substitute for him, and it won't even be that hard. I have taken over plenty of classes mid-semester for someone who left. It's no big deal. Go see the dean. I know sometimes college doesn't feel like a professional place from the student's end, but for those of us who work there it is just as much a profession as any corporate office, and this is just unacceptable.
This is not about slander. This is about a course that is not appropriate. It's about you paid tuition and you are getting nothing. It's very nearly illegal. Don't be immature. Act professional and complain about the quality of the class - don't talk about slander or anything like that. This is not a grade school clique where you are taking sides. Show the midterm exam and that should be all you need to say. Also, you do not need to go to the dept head. You can also go to the dean of students. Maybe you should, given that the dept head is involved and the whole thing is very uncomfortable- you really should not be in the middle of it.
You will not suffer for it. They'll get a substitute for him, and it won't even be that hard. I have taken over plenty of classes mid-semester for someone who left. It's no big deal. Go see the dean. I know sometimes college doesn't feel like a professional place from the student's end, but for those of us who work there it is just as much a profession as any corporate office, and this is just unacceptable.
its not so much a matter of immaturity as it is just ignorance of the way in which these things are done. i know from friends that the politics of teaching can be very embittering and i can recognize that in this teacher. i also DO feel that it IS slander, tho i can see your point in not approaching the problem in that context or with that language. the fact is that i do feel that the opinions of the students could be shaped by what this man is saying and that it is entirely unfair for them to have a negative view of someone who is an excellent teacher.
but i should just present the midterm and anyone who reads it for ten seconds will have all the evidence of what i mean. there is a bit of a fear that he is a combustible personality as well so i just need to point this out to someone so they can handle it. i have decided to approach it from that direction, and just let the evidence speak for itself. i don't need to get involved in anything dramatic. i just want an education.
I think the best approach would be to meet with the head of the department with a group of other students from the class. That way it's not just one of you speaking out.
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