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I'm an evil, heartless bastard. My student told me so...

Am I an evil, heartless bastard?

  • Nah, you're a swell guy

    Votes: 7 31.8%

  • Evil, but not heartless. You need a heart to live

    Votes: 1 4.5%

  • Heartless, but not evil.

    Votes: 2 9.1%

  • Demonic, heartless, evil bastard

    Votes: 3 13.6%

  • I like pie.

    Votes: 9 40.9%
  • Total voters
    22
D

dreamtheatervt

As some of you know, I teach organic chemistry at Virginia Tech. My exams are known for their difficulty, which I tell them day one, and most of them also learn from talking to my former students. But I'm kind of like Bob Knight in a way, many of them come back and tell me they appriciate (in hind sight) the way I run things.

Well, this week I gave them their first quiz. Before I give it out, my I always give the advice, "READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY". That said, I've encountered the following mistakes:

The question states, "Choose a replacement solvent to rectify the following problems and explain your choice:
Student gives no explanation, and receives no credit. Then calls me "unfair and unreasonable".

For a series of true/false questions, I state, "If the statement is false, change it to make it true." Several students quit reading at "true or false" in the previous sentence.

Another question states in the middle of the question "The apparatus is calibrated correctly." Four students give an answer of "The melting point apparatus was not correctly calibrated" (or something along those lines). COLLEGE SOPHMORES AND JUNIORS!

I saved the best for last...the directions for a word choice series of questions stated, "cross out the incorrect word or phrase in the parenthesis to make the statement correct." Seven of them decided to circle the correct word or phrase. I gave them no credit. One student decided to make a case out of it. I told them that if your boss told you to do something, and you did it differently, you would not be in their good graces. I explained that reading carefully was an important life skill and that jumping to conclusions can lead to serious problems since we work potentially dangerous chemicals on a regular basis. After a 15 minute argument that this student realized they weren't going to win ensued, they told me, "You're an evil, heartless bastard."

I took it as a compliment. :hell:
 
half my teachers are just like this, the other half are ridiculously lenient. the lenient guys rarely fail anyone and the harder guys all have fail rates of 1 in 3 or 1 in 2. my favorites are always the harder guys (maybe partly b/c i have ADD so i kinda need a challenge...) i feel like school is getting dumbed down, university is supposed to be hard. you aren't guarenteed a passing grade just cuz you paid... this is sort of a pet peeve of mine... everytime you have an exam you look around and think 'i have never seen half these people' and yet they feel it's the profs fault if they fail cuz the exam was too hard.
this is about to turn into a rant of epic proportions so i should stop...
 
GrumpyBear said:
half my teachers are just like this, the other half are ridiculously lenient. the lenient guys rarely fail anyone and the harder guys all have fail rates of 1 in 3 or 1 in 2. my favorites are always the harder guys (maybe partly b/c i have ADD so i kinda need a challenge...) i feel like school is getting dumbed down, university is supposed to be hard. you aren't guarenteed a passing grade just cuz you paid... this is sort of a pet peeve of mine... everytime you have an exam you look around and think 'i have never seen half these people' and yet they feel it's the profs fault if they fail cuz the exam was too hard.
this is about to turn into a rant of epic proportions so i should stop...
Click to expand...

PIE!!
 
Heartless but not evil.

They should get 1 warning. The first quiz should be graded on demonstration of knowledge, but should also show the score that would have been given with no leniency.

Society breeds us to make certain shortcuts of thinking. We can't help it. We are Americans.

2nd quiz no mercy and they will have no leg to stand on.
 
Pie gives me heartburn, ergo, you are a demonic, heartless, evil bastard.

Please provide better food options for your next poll, like a pound of wings in Defcon 1 sauce, if you would like me to take a more supportive stance...:cool:
 
dreamtheatervt said:
As some of you know, I teach organic chemistry at Virginia Tech. My exams are known for their difficulty, which I tell them day one, and most of them also learn from talking to my former students. But I'm kind of like Bob Knight in a way, many of them come back and tell me they appriciate (in hind sight) the way I run things.

Well, this week I gave them their first quiz. Before I give it out, my I always give the advice, "READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY". That said, I've encountered the following mistakes:

The question states, "Choose a replacement solvent to rectify the following problems and explain your choice:
Student gives no explanation, and receives no credit. Then calls me "unfair and unreasonable".

For a series of true/false questions, I state, "If the statement is false, change it to make it true." Several students quit reading at "true or false" in the previous sentence.

Another question states in the middle of the question "The apparatus is calibrated correctly." Four students give an answer of "The melting point apparatus was not correctly calibrated" (or something along those lines). COLLEGE SOPHMORES AND JUNIORS!

I saved the best for last...the directions for a word choice series of questions stated, "cross out the incorrect word or phrase in the parenthesis to make the statement correct." Seven of them decided to circle the correct word or phrase. I gave them no credit. One student decided to make a case out of it. I told them that if your boss told you to do something, and you did it differently, you would not be in their good graces. I explained that reading carefully was an important life skill and that jumping to conclusions can lead to serious problems since we work potentially dangerous chemicals on a regular basis. After a 15 minute argument that this student realized they weren't going to win ensued, they told me, "You're an evil, heartless bastard."

I took it as a compliment. :hell:
Click to expand...
Survival of the fittest. stupid people are not meant to survive, and school should not be different than real life.
imaguitargod said:
PIE!!
Click to expand...
Yes, indeed.
 
None of the above.

What you are, to not put too fine a point on it, is in desperate and urgent need of a blow job.

I mean, seriously, organic chem isn't difficult enough without you behaving like some sort of sanctimonious martinet? Geeez, unclench man! You're supposed to be testing them on what they know about organic chemistry, not on their test taking skills. Organic Chemistry is *not* easy for most of us, and the stress of facing a test is enough to make the best students FUBAR.
 
Pam said:
None of the above.

What you are, to not put too fine a point on it, is in desperate and urgent need of a blow job.

I mean, seriously, organic chem isn't difficult enough without you behaving like some sort of sanctimonious martinet? Geeez, unclench man! You're supposed to be testing them on what they know about organic chemistry, not on their test taking skills. Organic Chemistry is *not* easy for most of us, and the stress of facing a test is enough to make the best students FUBAR.
Click to expand...
Well it can't hurt. :lol: OK it can... but only if there's teeth involved. :lol:
 
GrumpyBear said:
half my teachers are just like this, the other half are ridiculously lenient. the lenient guys rarely fail anyone and the harder guys all have fail rates of 1 in 3 or 1 in 2. my favorites are always the harder guys (maybe partly b/c i have ADD so i kinda need a challenge...) i feel like school is getting dumbed down, university is supposed to be hard. you aren't guarenteed a passing grade just cuz you paid... this is sort of a pet peeve of mine... everytime you have an exam you look around and think 'i have never seen half these people' and yet they feel it's the profs fault if they fail cuz the exam was too hard.
this is about to turn into a rant of epic proportions so i should stop...
Click to expand...


It is entirely possible to be a tough and demanding instructor without being a jerk about it. They're students, not adversaries. Explain carefully what is expected of them, and most of them will try and do things correctly. Oh, there are always a few slimers, but only after the rules are explained to them and they continue to ignore the rules do I gleefully rip them a new one.
 
Pam said:
None of the above.

What you are, to not put too fine a point on it, is in desperate and urgent need of a blow job.

I mean, seriously, organic chem isn't difficult enough without you behaving like some sort of sanctimonious martinet? Geeez, unclench man! You're supposed to be testing them on what they know about organic chemistry, not on their test taking skills. Organic Chemistry is *not* easy for most of us, and the stress of facing a test is enough to make the best students FUBAR.
Click to expand...

Though I understand DT's point re following instructions, your post Pam is simply briliiant.
 
I'd be giving them a test run first - a quiz that doesn't count anyway where you can line up a bunch of commonly screwed up questions & bust them. Then they can review the error of their ways knowing that had it been a real test they would not have scored marks.
If they then stuff up on the real test, they only have themselves to blame.
 
bentalphanerd said:
I'd be giving them a test run first - a quiz that doesn't count anyway where you can line up a bunch of commonly screwed up questions & bust them. Then they can review the error of their ways knowing that had it been a real test they would not have scored marks.
If they then stuff up on the real test, they only have themselves to blame.
Click to expand...


That's basically what I said. One warning shot across the bow.
 
In my 23 quarters at Auburn University, there were two courses that ate my lunch...organic chemistry and parasitology. We were required to take 2 quarters of organic chemistry in the Wildlife Management (specialty Biology major). The first quarter I squeezed by with a "D" then it took me 3 tries to get a "D" for the second quarter. I dropped it passing (barely) the last week of classes the first two times because I knew I was going to fail the final. The grading scale was very fair...90-100 A, 80-89 B, 5 points below class average to 79 "C" and 15 points to 6 points below class average was a "D". I just didn't get it and I studied hard. It just didn't make sense to me. When I was in mechanical engineering school, I made "A"'s in all my calculus courses (5 quarters) and tore series of Thermodynamics, Fluid Dynamics, and Dynamics of Machines up (total of 40+ credit hours). Now those subjects made sense to me. These were suppose to be the "weed-out" courses in ME.

I would say you may not be an evil, heartless bastard, but then again, you are an Organic Chemistry teacher.

And I like pie too............
 
Pam said:
What you are, to not put too fine a point on it, is in desperate and urgent need of a blow job.
Click to expand...

Wow...I'm not even going to touch that one.

bentalphanerd said:
I'd be giving them a test run first - a quiz that doesn't count anyway where you can line up a bunch of commonly screwed up questions & bust them.
Click to expand...

Actually, they do get an ungraded "quiz" the first day of class. I call it a questionnaire to see if they know what they need to know upon entering my class.

One other thing I guess you should know...the course is curved, and I only fail students who don't try, are caught cheating, or score less than 30% on the final.

I was just frustrated because I told them to read carefully. The goal of my class isn't too weed people out, I have twice as many majors this year compared to when I started, and I'm damn proud of that. I want my students to succeed, but while possesing knowledge is important, equally important is being able to use and integrate that knowledge and learn more. The literature is where those skills are put to use, and glossing over minor things can be the difference between doing something well and safe, and failing (and sometimes creating an accident).

I'm just surprised at how many replys came so quickly.
 
Hot Canuck said:
Though I understand DT's point re following instructions,
Click to expand...

Oh, absolutely. It's just that this is the first quiz in a notoriously difficult class with an instructor who announces that his tests are notoriously difficult, a class where a few points one way or the other can mean the difference between passing and failing. Stress levels can be *huge*. Holding up the test while he's telling the students to read the directions carefully and pointing to one section and saying, "For example, on the true and false, it says you must correct the statement. It is not enough to just write "true or false". I will not give you credit if you don't correct the false statements" would probably help buckets.



your post Pam is simply briliiant.
Click to expand...

*blush* Why thank you.
 
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