One of my students approached me after class the day before the final. She wanted to know what she could do to improve her grade. She told me that she had totalled up her previous four exams, and that she was sitting at 59% and was afraid she wasn't going to pass. Again. (She also said that this was her fourth time taking the class.) I told her it was a little late for me to give her tips on how to improve (because they all require extra time), and that she just needed to hope that she could do well on the final exam. I mentioned a few things for her to try anyway, but she won't be able to utilize them until next semester (when she's most likely enrolled in the course for the fifth time).
I don't know how it is at other universities, but it seems like there are a lot more people who retake classes here than there ought to be. I'd say at least a third of my students this semester were retaking it. That's definitely more than there were at the university where I got my BS and MS. To me it just seems like a huge waste of time. If you've retaken a class once, and received the same grade the second time around, you're probably just wasting your time by trying again, and again, and again. I know one thing, if it took me four or five tries to get through an introductory level course, I'd do one of two things: 1) Give up on whatever subject it was, and 2) shoot myself in the face with both barrels of a double barrel shotgun.
I related the conversation I had with this student to a couple of guys I work with. Partly because it baffles me so, and partly because I wanted to make fun of the student. Ok, mostly because I wanted to make fun of the student.
Guy 1: Did you ask her what she wants to do with her life?
Me: No, I don't care what she wants to do. It doesn't really matter because she's not going to be able to do it. No med school or grad school is going to take her.
Guy 2: True.
Me: I know I wouldn't if I was sitting on the admissions committee. I don't want someone that can get it right after four or five tries. I want someone who gets it right the first time.
Guy 1: Seriously, but you could have told her to start looking at other options. Maybe you were the one she needed to hear that from.
Me: What other options am I supposed to give her? Should I have told her she'd be better off selling crack at the park? Or maybe selling her body?
Guy 1: Maybe she should be a teacher.
Me: Yeah, because that's who I'd want educating our youth.
Guy 1: I'm serious. You don't have to be that smart for that. I'm not saying all teachers are dumb. After all, my wife's one, but there are certainly some dumb ones out there. In fact, some of the dumbest people I've met since I moved here are working on advanced degrees in the special education department.
Guy 2: Well, how smart do you have to be to teach a retard?
4 comments:
It's actually really pathetic how little biology you have to take to become a secondary school science teacher. I'm finishing my B.S. and adding on a minor in education... The woman at the advising center for the education department told me I was extremely overqualified to teach... I thought that was a horrible statement regarding our education system.
it is horrible that there are no excellent standards to be a teacher. well, at least nationwide. in ny, you have to have a masters, but here in fl...well, i don't know what you have to have. it makes me sad that education is such a low priority in our country. and when i see stupid teachers.
I should probably qualify this by saying that you can find stupid people in any profession. I've taken classes from stupid professors, seen stupid classmates get accepted to medical school, listened to the president of our country speak, etc. I wish people cared as much about education as they do about whether or not Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are still feuding or if they're BFFs again. There was a time when academics were held in high regard, but sadly, that time is long gone.
I would actually think the girl needs some credit for still trying to pass. Stamina and all that.
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