NYU Prof fired because his class was too hard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If other professors were teaching the same course but seeing different results then the problem was the professor. It is likely that students did not gain the math skills or other foundations necessary to do well prior to the class. However if other professors were able yo recognize this, provide a different level of instruction and address it while this one could not then firing him made sense.

Many professors do not really teach. They reuse the same lectures and variations of tests year after year, They don’t watch or measure the performance of their students to see if they are teaching effectively. This is frankly always a problem but after the pandemic it can’t be ignored.

Exactly.

I do think that the professor wasn't the cause of the problem, the cause is the entire education system. But we all have to deal with the impacts of the pandemic, professors included.

My son had the “bad” teacher this year for one of his honors courses. Everyone ends up dropping it. She is impossible and doesn’t teach the material well- or even what is on the tests. The school does nothing about it but they know. They don’t let kids move into one of the other two honors courses taught by different teachers.

So- he either had to suffer and spend 90% of his time on this one class and still prob not do great or drop down from honors like the other 10 kids. He dropped honors and has a 100% in the regular class and definitely would have an A in honors with one of the other teachers.

It was luck of the draw, and he lost. It pisses me off for “course rigor”. Every year there are complaints by everyone. What can you do? He dealt with it by dropping her course.

[Anonymous]

^ this obviously high school. But I first thought of his teacher when I read that article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reminds me of one of my classes. None of the questions in the tests matched what was covered in the lectures or textbook. It was the most interesting class but grade wise it was the worst. To this day I remember her lectures, she was brilliant. And a terrible test writer.

This is my child’s honor chem teacher with a reputation for never having anything on her tests that was actually covered in class. Kids drop it in droves first semester.

But somehow kids end up doing well. It really needs to be only the brightest that should be taking and passing honors classes. For kids who drop classes like this it the first time they’ve actually found a class with academic rigors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reminds me of one of my classes. None of the questions in the tests matched what was covered in the lectures or textbook. It was the most interesting class but grade wise it was the worst. To this day I remember her lectures, she was brilliant. And a terrible test writer.

This is my child’s honor chem teacher with a reputation for never having anything on her tests that was actually covered in class. Kids drop it in droves first semester.

But somehow kids end up doing well. It really needs to be only the brightest that should be taking and passing honors classes. For kids who drop classes like this it the first time they’ve actually found a class with academic rigors.

But it's hard for schools to get AP-certified teachers, and some are terrible.

I think the test is to use multivariable regression analysis and figure out what the outcomes are for similar kids with different teachers. It's hard to tell until you plug the numbers into SPSS and let the computer crunch the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Organic chemistry is hard? Who knew?

This was especially interesting in light of discussions over Covid learning loss:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html

“Students were misreading exam questions at an astonishing rate,” he wrote in a grievance to the university, protesting his termination. Grades fell even as he reduced the difficulty of his exams.

The problem was exacerbated by the pandemic, he said. “In the last two years, they fell off a cliff,” he wrote. “We now see single digit scores and even zeros.”

After several years of Covid learning loss, the students not only didn’t study, they didn’t seem to know how to study, Dr. Jones said.

Sounds like an awful professor. Good riddance.

I don't understand why his statements make him an awful professor. Others of us, also profs, have experienced much the same thing. It's the sad reality. Many students now don't know how to study or take notes, etc. I find myself spending more time in class teaching students basic math and algebra (e.g., how to divide fractions or plot a curve). This in a course that has calculus as a prerequisite! As a result, I simply cannot cover the material that I am supposed to cover, and I have had to make assessments simpler than they were just a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Was NYU where Ross Geller was teaching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reminds me of one of my classes. None of the questions in the tests matched what was covered in the lectures or textbook. It was the most interesting class but grade wise it was the worst. To this day I remember her lectures, she was brilliant. And a terrible test writer.

This is my child’s honor chem teacher with a reputation for never having anything on her tests that was actually covered in class. Kids drop it in droves first semester.

But somehow kids end up doing well. It really needs to be only the brightest that should be taking and passing honors classes. For kids who drop classes like this it the first time they’ve actually found a class with academic rigors.

I am a different poster but the exact same thing happened to my son. The honors chem teacher he had was awful. No handouts or anything posted online. My son couldn’t figure out how to do part of a lab homework so he read and studied the book, emailed the teacher who didn’t respond, texted classmates who were also puzzled. I hired a tutor who is a retired AP chem teacher and has a Ph.D. in chemistry. The tutor told my son it was impossible to solve that homework section without a solubility chart. The awful chem teacher never told the students this, never passed out or explained anything about a chart. The tutoring session was online and recorded so my son okayed that section for me so I verified that the Ph.D chem tutor actually said that and was puzzled why that part of the lab was assigned. So only with the help of the tutor did my son answer those question correctly. The only other kids in class who did had tutors or parents who were good in chem like a friend whose mom is an anesthesiologist.

I encouraged my son to drop down to regular chem. He has an A+, the teacher is fantastic, my son now finds chemistry interesting, and has time to take an online AP class since he has no chem homework (he finishes it in class).