I have a student I'll call 'Sleepy Suzie' SS dozes off occasionally in the front row of my 7:45 logic class -- not that I really blame her for this, it is at 7 freaking 45 in the morning twice a week...
Yesterday we had the following conversation... in class -- after handing back a quiz on which SS didn't do so well....
SS: I feel cheated, this is like math.
Me: Yep, there is a reason this will satisfy a math credit when you graduate.
SS: but, the counselor told me this wouldn't be as hard as math.
Me: Didn't you listen at the beginning of class when I told you this would be hard and that it was very similar to math?
SS: but the counselor said...
Me: Does the counselor teach philosophy? As far as I know, the counselor hasn't taken this course or even sat in on even one session of logic. On the other hand, I teach it regularly and told you at the beginning this was hard in math-like ways.
SS: I still feel cheated
Me: Maybe you should discuss this with the counseling office, how they gave you the wrong impression of this course.
at this point, several other students started to chime in with things like, "I'm not good at math, but I'm getting an A" etc...
This has been a constant issue for me at BNCC. There seems to be one or two counselors who think they know everything and are not at all ethical when they are advising students.
Last year I had a student tell me that the counselor told him that he should take my classes and not Wise Woman's classes. They flat out told him that Wise Woman wasn't a good teacher and that he should take me instead. If counselors are faculty (which they consider themselves, by the way...) then they ought not be saying those kinds of things about other members of the faculty. Granted, I've had students say similar things to me -- and I've defended Wise Woman, as I know she's a good teacher -- but I'd never had the source be the counselors. I took it to my Dean, who handled it from there.
I have also heard this stuff about logic before from counselors via the students. It is only the most mouthy and least wise students who actually come out and say it... and I think I can get SS to tell me which counselor it is so I can get to the bottom of it. It is really irritating that they set up these expectations for students telling them that Logic isn't math -- when, if they knew anything about logic OR math, they'd know that propositional logic is something that is also taught in high-level math courses. Not only are they doing math without the numbers, they are doing HARD math without the numbers. And if the counselors had taken my course, they'd know it is hard-- and it starts getting hard right about now, every f-ing semester.
It seems that my warnings at the beginning of class were ignroed and the counselor's promises during an advision session months ago were retained... hmmm. I hope these little punks never meet a military recruiter. They'll be in Iraq so fast, and think they are going on vacation.
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2 comments:
I hate when we have to clean up the mess from incompetent advising. I had a kid the other day who was transferring and told she had to take a studio art class that counts for nothing in our degree.
i too have found myself dealing with the messiness left over from third-rate advising. still, i always wonder how much of this is the result of poor advising and how much is the result of students' selective or just plain lunk-headed memories.
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