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Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#31

Post by baldfat »

aaron695 wrote: post #15

This really is a pointless article of he said, they said. There is nothing at all to be gained in reading it. There's no actual evidence of who was in the wrong or what the real story is. (You could easily argue after 20 years in the game he fully knew all the students wouldn't actually get a F, even this is unknown)

Happened at the College I use to work at (Systems Librarian and in Student Life)

Whole class plagiarized their papers and it wasn't a he said she said. Clear as day guilty. Some of the papers were word for word the same (The kids forgot to change words). Professor gives the complete class a failing grade. College within a week lets all the Seniors graduate and changed their grades to C and fires the Professor.

Professor appeals and is re-hired. Than he is fired 2 years later due to complaints that his classes are to difficult. Once again appeals and is rehired. He is now the easiest professor to get a D or C as long as you don't cut three weeks (AKA 1/4 of the class). You have to do projects for different grades. D = writes out 50 words and their definitions with hand drawn pictures. C = Pass a definition test of a possible 100 words (Super Easy). B = do research and turn in a short half page synopsis of your findings with printed out web pages or copies of books. A = write one 10 page paper and get at least an 80 on the paper with his simple rubric (AKA Jr High level). Only 10% actually ever attempt an A and he has a perfect Bell Curve the past 15+ years now.

His lectures are incredible deep (Philosophy and Theology) and you can either sit there and learn very little (Most do) or you can engage him and he will give the best lecture tailored for whoever tries hard and talks during class. When my friends who were alumni would come to visit I always took them to this professor's class and they were blown away at how foolish they were to dismiss him and think of him as a easy C or B class.

So this actually happened and it caused a professor to just not engage his classes brains or challenge them academically due to fear of being fired again. Philosophy and Theology field is incredibly competitive and there would be over 150 applications for his position if it ever opened up. You also would than be a person who was fired trying to get into a field where hundreds trying for the same job.

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#32

Post by madaxe_again »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #25
aaron695 wrote: post #15

This really is a pointless article of he said, they said. There is nothing at all to be gained in reading it. There's no actual evidence of who was in the wrong or what the real story is. (You could easily argue after 20 years in the game he fully knew all the students wouldn't actually get a F, even this is unknown)

I agree there is nothing of immediate value here. The story is part of a larger narrative. Those interested in that narrative will enjoy watching how it plays out.

The larger narrative is the commoditisation of education, degree-mills, disgruntled educators who find they are no longer able to educate (the word comes from educere - to lead or to draw from, and implies a two-party process) their disengaged students, and the even larger narrative is the result of entitlement culture, which is part of the broader narrative of social change in north america, 1770 - 2015.

I know far too many talented and insightful educators who have found themselves either unemployed or fleeing to commerce.. those who remain are increasingly embittered, embattled, or just don't care.

Things will get better when and if folks stop believing that all of their dreams will come true because they're a unique special flower, and start realising that most of life requires knowledge and hard graft, if you want to achieve anything worthwhile - and that you are just another head of corn in a field of billions.

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#34

Post by Casseres »

I graduated from the college in question - Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG). Off the bat, I don't know that professor or any of those students (I was in a different major, and had great professors).

The problem I have with this story is that someone went to the media with rather than dealing with the school administration. Based on KPRC's online video of the report, it was probably John R Shaw Jr. The video was poorly made. About half of the video is shots of the same empty classroom. Another part is where they stage John walking on the sidewalk. Due to poor editing, you can see him turn around before walking and suppressing a smile.

The only reason that I can surmise that this is in the news rather than being dealt with appropriately, is because John R Shaw Jr probably wanted 15 minutes of fame. He says he has a job offer, but after this, I can't imagine what company is going to want to hire him if he goes to the media instead of the appropriate route every time he feels slighted.

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#35

Post by joshaidan »

aaron695 wrote: post #15

This really is a pointless article of he said, they said. There is nothing at all to be gained in reading it. There's no actual evidence of who was in the wrong or what the real story is. (You could easily argue after 20 years in the game he fully knew all the students wouldn't actually get a F, even this is unknown)

I wish this article reached out to the students and tried to tell their side of the story. Good journalism usually tries to hear from both sides of the story--or at the very least give an explanation as to why they couldn't get comment from the students.

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#36

Post by jmilloy »

There are students everywhere who are graded unfairly. Certainly punishing students who break the ethical rules of the school or terrorize the classroom with a failing grade is not the appropriate response, though many of such students probably do deserve poor grades for the actual academic performance that corresponds to such behaviour.

More interestingly, why should a single grade matter so much? Especially when it can so easily be due to the whims of the professor or to extraordinary personal circumstances of the student? Of course, it does matter in practice, and that's the bigger problem that I think is showcased by stories like these.

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#37

Post by helyka »

baldfat wrote: post #31
aaron695 wrote: post #15

This really is a pointless article of he said, they said. There is nothing at all to be gained in reading it. There's no actual evidence of who was in the wrong or what the real story is. (You could easily argue after 20 years in the game he fully knew all the students wouldn't actually get a F, even this is unknown)

Happened at the College I use to work at (Systems Librarian and in Student Life) Whole class plagiarized their papers and it wasn't a he said she said. Clear as day guilty. Some of the papers were word for word the same (The kids forgot to change words). Professor gives the complete class a failing grade. College within a week lets all the Seniors graduate and changed their grades to C and fires the Professor. Profes…

This is a shame. When I first started college I felt that citations were always a burden. Five years later and two degrees I wouldn't even dream about writing without citing my work. If these kids want to cheat, they shouldn't be rewarded. But hey, the more the kids fluff off the less I have to worry about my field of study being over populated by people that can ACTUALLY do the job..

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#38

Post by oddevan »

Kenji wrote: post #6

Seems like he just had a nervous breakdown. He should probably take some time off, recover, and maybe take a job that requires less social interaction. Being a good teacher (no matter the age of the student) is draining and requires a lot of patience and emotional intuition.

I'll agree with you with the caveat that "just a nervous breakdown" might be a little dismissive.

Does he need a sabbatical? Absolutely. It sounds like after one-too-many classes of willfully unteachable students (as in students that refuse to learn, not students that are unable to learn), enough was enough and he had had it with these motherf%$&ing students in this motherf%$&ing school.

I think a lot of us here on HN can empathize with overwork and burnout, and it sounds like this professor may have ignored the warning signs for too long. I hope he can get the help he needs.

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#39

Post by skywhopper »

Breaking News: sometimes teachers have depressive flameouts just like every other kind of person.

There's not really anything to take from this article. When this sort of thing happens, the department hands the class off to someone else, the instructor is disciplined in some way, and life goes on. The students won't receive an ideal semester's worth of instruction, but that happens sometimes. The university probably ought to find some way to let students who want to take the class over to do so at no cost, but I have no idea if that's likely. The students who would rather not take the class over shouldn't have to. One class is not going to make or break their education. Meanwhile, they've learned that sometimes spectacular flameouts happen, and they have an interesting story to tell for the rest of their lives.

Re: Texas college professor tries to flunk his whole class

#40

Post by IkmoIkmo »

winsletts wrote: post #8
Red_Tarsius wrote: post #5

There's not enough information for a fair opinion on the matter. The professor felt devalued from class behaviour, so he "made himself scarce". After establishing credibility by telling us about his past experiences and successes, he quits for reasons we can all empathize with. Scarsity , social proof and authority are 3 of the six principles described by Cialdini's Influence .

I imagine this is one of those situations where the truth will never be available. All participates have taken sides, and have skewed / omitted / shaped their own stories for their own interests. I wish we had a black box recorder for organizational and cultural failures. [edited tone to convey agreement]

But the article ends with a student expressing disbelief as he did decent work and getting an F before the class even ends, and the professor acknowledging that some students were fine, but that he exercised collective punishment because it was his only instrument.

That seems pretty clear cut to me, definitely a bad move. It can't be justified, solves no problems and punishes innocent students.

I'd understand why he'd fail some of his students, and I can also imagine situations where it's tricky to pinpoint and isolate the unwilling students from his class, and if made out to be a clown day in day out, lacking the proper instruments, management backing and (understandably) mental fortitude, that you'd leave the school at some point.

But how that translates to giving an F to an entire class, including students who bore no responsibility and were as powerless to keep the class going the right way as he was, is beyond me.

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