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fiona
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« on: November 08, 2011, 01:59:48 AM » |
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This is a strange story that I'm posting because it seems like one of the standard academic anxiety dreams: that it's the end of the semester and you discover you were supposed to teach a class, but you've never gone to the class, and you're hoping you can buy the students' silence by giving them all A's. I'm sure there's a lot more to this story, and we may never know, but it's certainly weird when real life imitates a dream. http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/professor-in-george-washington-u-medical-program-quits-amid-complaints-that-she-didnt-teach/37891The Fiona |
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The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
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drj_b
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« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2011, 04:05:24 AM » |
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So...does this mean she was living the dream?
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hipgeek
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« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2011, 06:09:28 AM » |
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So...does this mean she was living the dream?
I'd say so. I often fantasize about just telling students first day of class "Listen let's skip this whole meeting weekly business, me assigning and responding to work that you sometimes turn in and sometimes actually try hard to do well. I can't give you all A's since that'd raise suspicions so let's use this day to hash out a bargain on what grade you're willing to accept." I told my students this last week in the context of a discussion on what college was about (simply getting the piece of paper or actually learning). I explained that as much as I'm all for pragmatism, I'm also a bit of an idealist and I think there's real value in learning. I actually used the example of a doc who just got the piece of paper or one who actually did the work, sometimes over and over. (My students were arguing that if they write about a book once in their academic life, they should never be required to write about it again). |
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I have no tolerance for swinish behavior, except from actual swine.
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totoro
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« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2011, 07:16:06 AM » |
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Nobody in admin noticed for two full semesters?
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macaroon
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« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2011, 09:10:46 AM » |
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It says she's also the chair.
I wonder if the backstory is that these classes are required for "approval" by whatever governing body oversees PA schools, and she never got them staffed or properly enrolled. It's dirty, of course, but probably not the case that she just didn't show up.
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aside
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« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2011, 09:36:38 AM » |
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It would be interesting to know what percentage of the students complained. It probably would be different in medicine than in my area, in which I suspect a higher percentage would be delighted to receive an A for doing nothing in core courses; many of them seem to come in with that expectation!
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johnr
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« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2011, 09:44:38 AM » |
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In my dream, I find out that I have to teach the class about five minutes before I have my first lecture, it's in a subject about which I have no knowledge, and I can't find the lecture hall. And I'm not wearing shoes, my teeth are falling out, and I'm flying over a pit of very long snakes.
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"When I die, I hope it's in a committee meeting. The transition from life to death will be barely perceptible."
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macaroon
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« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2011, 09:52:00 AM » |
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It would be interesting to know what percentage of the students complained. It probably would be different in medicine than in my area, in which I suspect a higher percentage would be delighted to receive an A for doing nothing in core courses; many of them seem to come in with that expectation!
If it is as I suspect - the classes were never really added to the program - most of the students would have been somewhat unaware that they hadn't taken a class until they took a finer look at their transcript. When I was a grad student, we had to have "Ethics Training" to fulfill obligations to the NIH. They rolled this into new student orientation. During the first week and a half, we had "Grad student camp", and attended Radiation safety, bloodborne pathogens, etc, and several modules that fulfilled NIH ethics. At the end of the semester, we'd all received As for NIH ethics, but nobody could recall having taken the class. |
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fiona
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« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2011, 03:20:24 PM » |
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In my dream, I find out that I have to teach the class about five minutes before I have my first lecture, it's in a subject about which I have no knowledge, and I can't find the lecture hall. And I'm not wearing shoes, my teeth are falling out, and I'm flying over a pit of very long snakes.
Some versions also include that the class is in a language you don't know, such as some form of Finno-Ugric. And you desperately have to pee. I hope we'll find out what happened in the original case. I hope it doesn't involve snakes or Finno-Ugric. The Fiona |
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The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
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ptarmigan
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« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2011, 03:27:27 PM » |
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I wish I could learn that when I find myself teaching (or taking) a class wearing a shirt but no pants, I am dreaming and can wake up whenever I want, since this situation is ubiquitous in dreams and seems not to occur in real life.
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melba_frilkins
Doing laundry.
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Posts: 8,136
Doing laundry (still)
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« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2011, 03:32:24 PM » |
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It says she's also the chair.
I wonder if the backstory is that these classes are required for "approval" by whatever governing body oversees PA schools, and she never got them staffed or properly enrolled. It's dirty, of course, but probably not the case that she just didn't show up.
The article was very brief, but it does sound like she was assigned to teach them as, "students complained that she did not teach two out of three semesters of a required course, yet gave A’s to all her students". (emphasis mine). |
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macaroon
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« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2011, 03:43:49 PM » |
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It says she's also the chair.
I wonder if the backstory is that these classes are required for "approval" by whatever governing body oversees PA schools, and she never got them staffed or properly enrolled. It's dirty, of course, but probably not the case that she just didn't show up.
The article was very brief, but it does sound like she was assigned to teach them as, "students complained that she did not teach two out of three semesters of a required course, yet gave A’s to all her students". (emphasis mine). It does, but... At my uni, if there is no instructor hired yet to teach a class, the default instructor is the chair of the department. So, at least the way our system is set up, it would be possible for my chair to approve a course, enroll the course, NEVER hire anyone to teach a course, leave meeting times as TBA, and then give everyone As at the end. |
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mystictechgal
Happy in my "full, rich adulthood", and as a
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One step at a time
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« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2011, 11:48:01 PM » |
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Gee, and I thought my prof not showing up for 4 (3 for a cruise vacation) out of a 15 week semester was bad.
On another note, did anyone else notice the story listed as "Next" above the article? "Penn investigates Accounts of Hazing by Student Government Group"? Between their experienced current and former professional leaders and now their young leaders-in-training they're having a really lousy year at all levels it seems.
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If a pouting pluot ploughman planted pluots in a plot, and the plot were ploughed on Pluto, would his pluot ploy play out?
"Is all the same, only different" -- Dr. H. L. |
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larryc
Hu hatin'
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Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #13 on: November 09, 2011, 12:11:16 AM » |
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it's the end of the semester and you discover you were supposed to teach a class, but you've never gone to the class, and you're hoping you can buy the students' silence by giving them all A's.
Like we all haven't done that. |
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melba_frilkins
Doing laundry.
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Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 8,136
Doing laundry (still)
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« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2011, 12:43:51 AM » |
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it's the end of the semester and you discover you were supposed to teach a class, but you've never gone to the class, and you're hoping you can buy the students' silence by giving them all A's.
Like we all haven't done that. Heh. I'm giggling at the notion of a class of students showing up dutifully, day after day, week after week, sitting there just waiting for the instructor to show up. It would be interesting to know what percentage of the students complained. It probably would be different in medicine than in my area, in which I suspect a higher percentage would be delighted to receive an A for doing nothing in core courses; many of them seem to come in with that expectation!
If it is as I suspect - the classes were never really added to the program - most of the students would have been somewhat unaware that they hadn't taken a class until they took a finer look at their transcript. The course in question was evidence-based medicine. |
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