tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post4365751390103316976..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Friday Thirsty: Scaring Them OffUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-26860478470556918292013-02-16T21:30:55.631-05:002013-02-16T21:30:55.631-05:00I haven't tried this, but I have responded to ...I haven't tried this, but I have responded to emails begging to force-add my section "because it's the only one that will fit my schedule" (there are over a hundred sections many semesters) with an email expressing concern that the student may not have scheduled enough prep/homework time. I've never heard back from one of those students. Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-57517435977207595962013-02-16T20:43:25.484-05:002013-02-16T20:43:25.484-05:00FFfF: In Never at Rest, a biography of Newton by ...FFfF: In <i> Never at Rest</i>, a biography of Newton by R.Westfall (1980), one finds the following comment attributed to Humphrey Newton (no relation), Newton's assistant when he was Lucasian Professor at Cambridge (1669-1696):<br /><br />"So few went to hear Him, & fewer yt understood him, yt oftentimes he did in a manner, for want of Hearers, read to ye Walls."<br /><br />Peter Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00754472537710161295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-49757272329149904532013-02-16T19:19:17.754-05:002013-02-16T19:19:17.754-05:00CC:
I heard that. Much of the discrepancy comes ...CC:<br /><br />I heard that. Much of the discrepancy comes from the outsourcing of many occupations, such as engineering and nursing, or, alternately, bringing in contract workers. However, where I live, even certain trades are affected, not only to pay lower wages but also to get around the unions. Union-busting is a pastime in this area.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-76828967941303403442013-02-16T18:12:35.023-05:002013-02-16T18:12:35.023-05:00NLAN: the same seems to be true, to some extent, o...NLAN: the same seems to be true, to some extent, of nurses (it's not as easy to get a job as the Labor Department predictions would make you think). Of course, the Labor Department has also taken to describing college professor as an "in-demand" job, and reporting median salaries that sound way high even for tenure-track proffies, all of which suggests that whatever predictive/Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-76103500221384622712013-02-16T16:46:31.218-05:002013-02-16T16:46:31.218-05:00Froderick:
Haven't you heard? We need even m...Froderick:<br /><br />Haven't you heard? We need even more engineers, even though there are many of us who can't get jobs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-6954969189373289012013-02-16T16:44:59.731-05:002013-02-16T16:44:59.731-05:00I tried similar methods with my students only to b...I tried similar methods with my students only to be reprimanded for scaring them. But, if I didn't tell them what they were getting into, the kiddies would later whine that they weren't warned earlier.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-18723526686701657272013-02-16T16:43:35.991-05:002013-02-16T16:43:35.991-05:00Peter K:
My comments were about the Canadian syst...Peter K:<br /><br />My comments were about the Canadian system. My Ph. D. supervisor once told about his early days when he could make that statement but, by the late 1990s, that was no longer permissible.<br /><br />Several years ago, I was interviewed by a junior college for a position to teach engineering in a university transfer program. When I hinted that there should be a high failure Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-41481739478683584392013-02-16T15:26:03.328-05:002013-02-16T15:26:03.328-05:00Ever since I got tenure, during the first week of ...Ever since I got tenure, during the first week of class, I have done my best to let as many students as possible know what they're getting into, in all classes. For the general-ed, intro-astronomy course, I tell them on the first day of class what the observing schedule will be and how it's determined by weather and when the Sun sets, and so may not fit with some students' schedules. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-63776000394577417742013-02-16T15:24:29.407-05:002013-02-16T15:24:29.407-05:00"Clearly tolerance for low retention rates wi..."Clearly tolerance for low retention rates will be different in a system with free (publicly funded) higher education, combined with entrance exams and/or rigorous high-school graduation exams."<br /><br />That, as well as systems who have any regard for the skimpy job markets their students face after graduation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-4905887958565629312013-02-16T15:21:30.516-05:002013-02-16T15:21:30.516-05:00"[Tolkien] didn't want fans as students....."[Tolkien] didn't want fans as students..."<br /><br />Isaac Newton was similar. He had no patience with pretenders, so he made no effort at what today would be called science popularization. He wrote the Principia in Latin, even though it was a full generation after Galileo wrote his books in the vernacular. Ever since Andrew Motte translated the Principia into English, it's Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-87894173680008509392013-02-16T14:52:24.733-05:002013-02-16T14:52:24.733-05:00NolongerAnAcademic, the story I related is very re...NolongerAnAcademic, the story I related is very recent, but non-US. My source tells me that by the start of sophomore year 40% of the freshmen had disappeared. <br /><br />Clearly tolerance for low retention rates will be different in a system with free (publicly funded) higher education, combined with entrance exams and/or rigorous high-school graduation exams. (As is common in Europe, Latin Peter Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00754472537710161295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-80065383137704902592013-02-16T14:40:20.841-05:002013-02-16T14:40:20.841-05:00I have sometimes joked with students who survive t...I have sometimes joked with students who survive to the end a course with me that I would be happy to write stellar recommendation letters for them if they will help me scare incoming students - either scare them off or scare them into submission/cooperation. <br /><br />"Just joking, of course," I say. Still, some of them take the hint: I hear fairly often from incoming students that Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-91618644020172946772013-02-16T13:50:41.739-05:002013-02-16T13:50:41.739-05:00There's a story about J. R. R. Tolkien that da...There's a story about J. R. R. Tolkien that dates from the fifties/sixties, after LotR was published. Apparently he began getting extra attention in his classes because of the popularity of the book (he's famous amongst medievalists for being an authority on Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight--his edition of the latter is still the standard text).<br /><br />He didn't want StellafromSparksburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17584701718285662953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-17948394076685095192013-02-16T12:36:09.114-05:002013-02-16T12:36:09.114-05:00"I don't so much "scare" those ..."I don't so much "scare" those off as watch them drop away as they realize they actually have to work hard just to get a "C". As many of the students are ed majors, you can imagine how difficult it is for them."<br /><br />I love you for this. Fortunately, I don't get an abundance of Ed majors - just the smattering here or there - but my undergrad program wasAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-43186112637397819612013-02-16T11:38:00.679-05:002013-02-16T11:38:00.679-05:00Peter K:
That used to be the case when I was an u...Peter K:<br /><br />That used to be the case when I was an undergrad nearly 40 years ago and, as it turns out, it wasn't all that far-fetched. Courses like statics not only served as introductory engineering courses, but they also weeded out those who decided they were better off studying something else. I heard that the dropout rate of those who start studying engineering was on the order Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-19269449137738131282013-02-16T09:11:08.947-05:002013-02-16T09:11:08.947-05:00I know an engineering school where freshmen are gr...I know an engineering school where freshmen are greeted by the dean with a lecture on nonlinear elasticity, in its full tensorial glory; they make sure to have graduate assistants planted in the audience, who occasionally pipe in with a smart question.<br /><br />At a certain point the dean stops, lets the class in on the joke, and then delivers the real message: "look to your left, look to Peter Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00754472537710161295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-50084505323023437822013-02-16T06:40:30.344-05:002013-02-16T06:40:30.344-05:00It is said that at a certain Canuckistani universi...It is said that at a certain Canuckistani university the prof would began the first lecture with:<br /><br />Let S be a spacetime equipped with a pseudometric dee tau squared ... <br /><br />The engineering students who believed for reasons incomprehensible that they knew some math and physics would promptly drop the course.<br />Vog3lfr3ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07498874776211940606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-34301677058820914252013-02-16T00:11:03.601-05:002013-02-16T00:11:03.601-05:00When I was an engineering undergrad, I didn't ...When I was an engineering undergrad, I didn't have much choice. Most of my courses were required and there was often just one section, so I couldn't switch to another. No matter what my profs did, I was stuck with them.<br /><br />A few came across as intimidating at first. I think they did that deliberately to see who was serious about learning the material. Since I knew I had to Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59338567646029442932013-02-15T20:54:40.292-05:002013-02-15T20:54:40.292-05:00"write up their schedule including all their ..."write up their schedule including all their time commitments, work, and adequate study time for my class"<br />Love, love the idea. Let nobody say that we don't get anything useful from this page.French Professeurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08062264385792788503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-87756002719260733072013-02-15T20:47:45.778-05:002013-02-15T20:47:45.778-05:00I am also deeply ashamed of what a cream puff I ha...I am also deeply ashamed of what a cream puff I had to be, in order to survive before I got tenure. Never again!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59327771107241756202013-02-15T20:35:59.790-05:002013-02-15T20:35:59.790-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-79860271929315988572013-02-15T20:34:32.331-05:002013-02-15T20:34:32.331-05:00Thanks! Nice to have it confirmed. It looks like ...Thanks! Nice to have it confirmed. It looks like an attractive, if rugged, landscape; I'll have to come visit the compound some time. Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-11416775100526347772013-02-15T20:24:11.380-05:002013-02-15T20:24:11.380-05:00Thank you. In many ways, students are uninformed c...Thank you. In many ways, students are uninformed consumers (pardon the inappropriate analogy). They don't know what they are getting into. Just like a bank loan officer should tell loan applicants what the monthly payment will be, professors should tell (and show) students what the work load is. I'd rather that they jump ship early than be stuck in my class, endlessly complaining, whenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-65814985615238943462013-02-15T19:27:55.165-05:002013-02-15T19:27:55.165-05:00The current background is indeed CM's home at ...The current background is indeed CM's home at Weber State. College Miseryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01371354682300032653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-34022058964868655452013-02-15T18:33:20.967-05:002013-02-15T18:33:20.967-05:00All my classes are introductory. I'd do it dif...All my classes are introductory. I'd do it differently if I taught upper division.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.com