The reason I'm posting today though it mainly to vent about my psychology teacher. She's gone just a bit too far and now I'm pissed. See, I'd finally gotten a chance to talk to her boss last week, about her constant tardiness, letting us out too early, being unreasonable, etc. Last week really tipped the scales because she didn't teach us at all. We went to class both Mon and Wed and she held us for 5min before letting us out. No, it wasn't for class reasons. Mon she handed back tests and then let us go and Wed it was because she had the chance to meet someone important and was going to do that.
Anyways, today she did show up on time. We waited a few minutes for any stragglers before starting. She opened up with saying we were going to make some changes to the syllabus. She then backtracked and said "I spoke with my supervisor and apparently there were some students in this class who complained about me showing up late and letting you out early. For starters as long as I'm within 15 minutes then it's not considered late, and you will always get out early because I teach back-to-back classes and need to be able to get to my other class, which is in another building."
Personally, if my college's official files say this class goes until 10:25am then it needs to go until about that time. Letting us out 20-30min early because she's overbooked with classes is not a very good excuse because we still get less education so she can make it to another class on time, even though she'd been late to our class up until now.
She then explained what the changes would be. Up until now we had been taking small quizzes, after each chapter review, to help memorize the material. This helped a lot of students, and she even told us during the first class that she's found this to be helpful so she gives them out. We would normally review 3 chapters, with a quiz after each one, and then take a test on all 3 chapters. But now she said that we would no longer have any quizzes (for the remaining 9 chapters) and that we would just review 3 chapters and take a test. Her exact reasoning was "because they are too hard for me." I am only assuming she meant that in the sense that they maybe take too much time and so she's taking them out to save time and catch up.
This did upset several students, who were finding the quizzes beneficial to their studies. She went on to also say "I also let you out early so that you can read the book and review the chapters. I thought you all would appreciate the flow, but it's all good. You can thank whoever complained." Yeah, she did just tell everyone that the person to blame was the one who complained about her not doing her job.
Class proceeded shortly after this. At the end of the lecture we ended about 7ish ...maybe 10min early. This isn't a big deal when compared to the other days where class would end 30min early. As she was finishing up, one of the students (who was obviously annoyed about the loss of quizzes) said very sarcastically, "Oh my god, don't end early!" My teacher responded to this with, "Oh yeah, whoever complained about that, right? Haha!" She then re-explained everything she said in the beginning, because some students showed up late, again reiterating that the person who complained about the lack of education is the one to blame for the class getting harder, due to the lack of future quizzes.
After class I stuck around, mainly because I didn't feel like moving much after that. Three girls, one of them being the girl who made the sarcastic remark earlier, were speaking together in the row in front of me. I was able to hear one of them was really upset about the lack of quizzes and is now debating dropping the class because the quizzes were what was helping her memorize the material. The second girl echoed those concerns and then they said a few things about how the person who complained just ruined the whole class for them. The third girl said, "It was probably some bitch who was just pissed off." I think that girl was one of the ones who knew I was the one that complained.
There is at least 1/4 of the class that know I voiced my opinion about the lack of education in the class. I know this because I spoke with them when they seemed upset about it as well. I told them, "Look, if this really bothers you then do what I did. Go downstairs to the Associate Dean's office and complain. Use your voice if you feel you're not getting your money's worth." I personally don't know if anyone took my advice. Even if they did, it still doesn't change the fact that our instructor singled out the "ones" who complained about how she wasn't doing a good job and then told the entire class, 3 times, that those students were to blame for the lack of future quizzes.
So because I voiced my concerns for wanting a more quality education the entire class gets punished, and I (and whoever else possibly complained) got singled out as being the ones at fault. This pretty much takes everyone who is upset and removes their anger from the teacher and puts it on the student who voiced their opinions and concerns. Ironically that's a very effective psychological method. Too bad it's incredibly unprofessional though.
I was kind of in shock afterward. I really expected her to handle the situation like an adult, after her boss told her she'd received complaints about the job she was doing. After composing myself I decided to skip seeing the Associate Dean (her boss) and went straight to the Dean of Student Affairs. I'd been keeping him in the loop through BCC emails, since my first complaint.
After telling him what happened he seemed calm but kind of angry. He said that what she did was retaliation and that the college has zero tolerance for it. He then asked when my next class with her was. I told him Wed and he said that he would meet with her boss today and then one of them would contact me before Wed.
I'm still really pissed at her complete lack of professional behavior. I mean really? You don't do your job so in return you punish everyone and then get them to be angry at the person who brought your lack of teaching to your boss' attention? Sorry but I'm not putting up with this shit. If she won't do her job then I'm going to complain, even if the other students won't stand up with me. I came for a goddamn education and if they want it to be cushy or don't want to make waves when they aren't getting taught right then they shouldn't be in school.
Chances are I'll be transferred out before my next class. At least for my own sanity, because I sure as hell don't want to learn from her anymore...not that I was learning from her in the first place. And I don't particularly want to be surrounded by classmates who hate me. But at this point I'd be prepared if I had to attend Wed's class, before this is resolved, and I don't plan on being quiet. She probably did that to try and intimidate and silence anyone who complained. Well...here's me being silent:
When an instructor is unprofessional enough to be habitually late & then dismisses ya all early, its not surprising that getting called on this gets an unprofessional response. Stick to your guns. You paid for the class, you are owed a class. You prepare for class, you have a right to a prepared class from a prepared instructor.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's pretty much how I felt too. Glad to know I wasn't overreacting.
ReplyDeleteShe did clean up her act after this all, though it wasn't much I suppose it's better than nothing. :)