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There's this philosophy class the entire University has to take, taught in seminars by different professors. Generally its Curved to a B+/A- (really high I know) but the fucking asshole who teaches my class decides to assign us twice the workload and curve to a B-/B. Its very very frustrating.
He's making you work for your grades? Oh noes :O
The problem here is relativity. Every other class works half as hard for twice the grade.Quote:
Originally Posted by Archangel
That sucks, but do you think the extra work will pay off later?
I've had a bunch of terrible professors for common core courses who marked unfairly compared to other professors, but there were instances where the unfair professors gave me incentive to work harder, which develop my intended skills than professors who handed me higher grades for mediocre work.
High five, and I think grading curves are an abomination.Quote:
Originally Posted by Archangel
Life isn't fair, at least you will have the satisfaction of knowing you earned your gradeQuote:
Originally Posted by Carnage
For a single class that makes us read 1-2 books every week the extra work is not appreciated.
I'm with Carnage. If it was a core course to his major then I could see it being worth the effort and extra work. But for a mandatory bs generic course, having to do extra work sucks when it's for no better reason than an instructor trying to make his own role more meaningful.
I have college partners that are absolute idiots, they know absolutely nothing about the career and still manage to pass because our grading system sucks. To pass, the only think you need is brain activity.
From my experience, the teachers who make students work hard are the better ones. It is much easier to take it easy on the students than to make them try harder, so they are actually spending more effort to teach more.
Although most teachers make things TOO easy, some want to make it harder, but can`t because the career has some issues and they literally can`t fail anyone. We have a partner who I don`t consider my partner at all and I see her more as the group`s pet.
Is she hot?
@shinta: I've had all kinds, the ones who sucked and made up for it with a lot of work and the ones who were good teachers but didn't bog you down with a lot of busy work. After 200+ hours of university courses, my experience is that there doesn't seem to be much of a relationship between teaching ability and the amount of work they force you to do.
Honestly, some college profs are just bitter.
I think on some level, every professor understand that a significant portions of their students do not care.
You can't exactly blames the students either, since some Universities just add random classes that barely relates to the field.
I'm an accounting major and i can't tell you the number of times i've heard marketing majors complain about taking accounting classes. I can tell you with certainly that 99% of those people will never use this knowledge again in their professional life. It does not relate to what they're doing and someone in marketing will never have to deal with the financials.
Learning for the sake of learning is stupid and your education should accurately reflect your professional aim. There are simply too many damn college students who aimlessly go through college, learning a significant amount of useless information that does not benefit them in anyway and most of those ends up with a huge debt while being unemployed/at a shitty job.
"Earning your grades" is another stupid concept for teachers. Unless a person interest relate to the subject, there's a really damn good chance that they don't care about it as much as you do. The whole point of core classes to teach students a certain amount of basic knowledge about math/science/history that will let them function in a professional environment. The other skill you learn is how to properly follow instructions, every good teacher realizes this and will usually give a step-by-step process to solving problems. Making it harder for the students to "earn their grades" will do absolutely nothing but makes them despise the subject they already have no interest in.
All of you seem to have so many unnecessary classes. In both my degrees every course was relevant. Some were more "industry specific" than others, but there was never anything out of the left field. On the other hand, my degrees allowed no room for personalisation of courses. Everybody does the same subject in the specified timetables set out by the school. Honours/non-Honour programs* are the only difference half-way during the year.
*In my health degrees, Honours are awarded to those who (are selected to) perform some form of research as part of their degree (in the second half). There are other degrees that award Honours based on academic proficiency.
I think a set degree plan with no room for personalization is just as bad as one that forces you to take some random courses that don't pertain to your field, though I liked my degree plan where you have electives that must satisfy fine arts (if you're a science major) and science classes (if you're a fine arts major).
I have to disagree with Dark Dragon in that I don't think they are a waste of time. Unless you know for sure what your future career will be, taking these other courses can open your mind to new ideas and career paths. Also, it's fun to meet people from other majors. I think it would suck to only be around engineering students if you're an engineering major, and equally if you are a liberal arts major who never gets to take classes with science majors. I think college should be more than just getting ready for your future job, but should focus mostly on that.
Basic level classes are fine, which gets people acquainted to the concepts.
What i'm talking about are mid to higher tier classes that people from other majors must take for some ridiculous reasons.
It's not to say that i think your degree should only focus on your major, but there's honestly too much padding in most degree plans i see nowadays.
meh, 4/10Quote:
Originally Posted by Animeniax
My university does the that a bit too much - last semester(and partially in this one) i had more subjects relating to civil engineering(parts of civ eng that have NO relation to my course(Surveying) to clarify) than to Surveying...Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Dragon
I've met few different kinds of profs(that teach subjects not related to the course)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Dragon
-One wants you to get interested in the subject, despite it being mildly related to your major, balancing on the tight line between being too lax and too strict.(my Mechanics prof and 90% of field related ones)
-Another one is really strict and thinks that it is the most important subject ever(despite it being a really niche one), and forces you to do shitload of stuff(that doesn't even teach anything - its just repetitive and tiring) 5% of field related ones, 25% of non-related ones
-Yet another one is too lax about everything and doesn't care at all. 5% of field related ones, 25% of non related
- and the last kind sees no difference between someone majoring in the field and someone unrelated to it, assumes(or doesn't even care) that you have all information required(which obviously is only in the specific course) and just gives you the same workload. 49% of non-related
Most ppl teaching the surveying-related stuff assume that you are interested in it, don't give that much workload and try to make the subject interesting.
Just throwing this out there:
I use my university Minor (English) more than I use my Major (Mechanical Engineering) in the professional world. The technical class I use the most? An elective (fatigue and fracture mechanics). Everything else has been the, "Match What You're Looking at with the Appropriate Formula from Roark's," game.
A broad education helps more than you would expect.
At an entry level position you may be required to utilize your major's skills and expertise more, but as you progress you will most likely need more communication skills (like writing and psychology), such as when you're leading project groups or managing people. You don't want an entry level engineer/mathematician to send out group emails if you want them to be understood and not upsetting to everyone else in the office.
I was a liberal arts major but I utilize my compsci minor skills more now. Once I'm PD, that will reverse as I'll have to rely on my social psychology skills to deal with people as a rookie officer, but then I'll revert back to computer sciences as a cybercrime/forensics detective once I've progressed.
You'd be amused at how often it is the other way around.Quote:
Originally Posted by Animeniax
Some people just can't write or communicate no matter what experience level or age.
The junior employee writes it so it can be understood and conveyed intelligently. The experienced employee or manager proofreads it to make sure nothing incorrect was said, and is thrown on cc to make sure it isn't ignored by the recipients.