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I teach mathematics at a community college. Every year the administration sends to my department statistics on how many people pass our classes. We're told to

I teach mathematics at a community college. Every year the administration sends to my department statistics on how many people pass our classes. We're told to come up with strategies to increase the passing rate. I haven't had a pay raise in over two years. My strategy for increasing the passing rate is to give points for things a well trained monkey could do. I give points for coming to my office. I give points for things that have nothing to do with mathematics. By and large society does not really want us to grade on knowledge. People don't want to hear that they, or their kids, don't know something and that they will have to work in order to gain the required knowledge. People want a high GPA not a high level of knowledge. I'm reminded of the Soviet joke: As long as you pretend to pay us we will pretend to work.

anthuswilliams 16y ago
I attend a podunk university in southern Utah, where college life resembles an episode of 'Community', and the phenomenon you describe is apparent. 60% of the students are seeking acceptance into the nursing program. The school claims it is one of "the top nursing schools in the country". This claim is based on their graduation rates (for those accepted, around 80%). The school inflates their graduation rates by leaning on biology teachers to increase the rate at which people pass their classes, and by making the most difficult classes (e.g. Microbiology) optional. The problem is that community and liberal arts colleges are small enough that the only significant measure of success is the rate at which students graduate. In my school, at least, nursing tends to (by and large) attract the sort of stupid people who are only interested in the certificate. In this the program is surpassed only by Elementary Education. Thus, economic pressures overpower academic concerns. Side note: I worry about our nurses. I spent the first three days of June in in the Intermountain Hospital, and I caught the CNAs inadvertently giving me someone else's prescription. Twice.
- nutmeg 16y ago
  Note on side note: CNAs are not nurses.
  - anthuswilliams 16y ago
    Duly noted (and upvoted). I should have made it more clear--my belief is that their actions reflect poorly on the RN who supervises them.
    - lukeschlather 16y ago
      Leadership abilities can't really be taught, and are always in short supply. It's hard to make the people around you more effective at their jobs.
- cookiecaper 16y ago
  I went to the ER at IHC recently. I received two hydrocodone during my stay. I was billed $5 for them. Not directly related, but I found this pretty lame and wanted to comment.
matwood 16y ago
We're told to come up with strategies to increase the passing rate. This may be a valid request, but it's impossible to know without more information. If we take your total pool of students we can probably break them down into 4 groups 1) Intelligent and motivated 2) Intelligent and unmotivated 3) Not intelligent and motivated 4) Not intelligent and not motivated Nearly all students in 1) should be passing while nearly all students in 4) should be failing. It's the students in groups 2) and 3) where the teacher can really make a difference. This is where teaching styles, more/less work, etc... come into play. If a large percentage of students from groups 2) and 3) are failing then there may be some teaching issues that need to be addressed. Group 4) simply needs to not be let in the class in the first place.
- yequalsx 16y ago
  This semester I'm teaching 8th grade level algebra. At a community college this is typically the second most populated course for the math department. Pre-algebra is the number 1 course. I have two students. Call one of them A and one B. A is 27 years old, never had algebra in high school and hasn't had math in 10 years. She's going to college because her hands have arthritis and she can't continue to cut hair (her current profession) for much longer. I'm trying to teach her in one semester stuff that took me a year to learn when I was in eighth grade. I told her the class was going to be tough. I told her it would require a lot of effort on her part and that it would be frustrating. Her response was, "Well, I have a life outside of school and work and I'm not going to sacrifice it." I knew then she would fail. She dropped a few weeks ago. B is Hmong barely speaks English, has 7 kids, a job and never went to school as a child. She's getting an A. Is A's failure my fault? Is B's success my fault? My experience is that groups 2, 4 as you label them are a large majority of the students I encounter. I can't force a student to be willing to sit down and do problems. And algebra is a subject that requires you to do problems to get it. If a student isn't motivated there isn't much I can do. Learning is work. It requires effort. It's frustrating. Students at my college, for the most part, are not willing to go through the frustration, effort, and work necessary to learn. I'm a bad motivator. I've tried to be a better motivator. I believe strongly in the correctness of the Chinese proverb: A teacher can only open the door to the house of knowledge, he can not make you enter.

anthuswilliams 16y ago

I attend a podunk university in southern Utah, where college life resembles an episode of 'Community', and the phenomenon you describe is apparent. 60% of the students are seeking acceptance into the nursing program. The school claims it is one of "the top nursing schools in the country". This claim is based on their graduation rates (for those accepted, around 80%). The school inflates their graduation rates by leaning on biology teachers to increase the rate at which people pass their classes, and by making the most difficult classes (e.g. Microbiology) optional. The problem is that community and liberal arts colleges are small enough that the only significant measure of success is the rate at which students graduate. In my school, at least, nursing tends to (by and large) attract the sort of stupid people who are only interested in the certificate. In this the program is surpassed only by Elementary Education. Thus, economic pressures overpower academic concerns. Side note: I worry about our nurses. I spent the first three days of June in in the Intermountain Hospital, and I caught the CNAs inadvertently giving me someone else's prescription. Twice.

nutmeg 16y ago
Note on side note: CNAs are not nurses.
- anthuswilliams 16y ago
  Duly noted (and upvoted). I should have made it more clear--my belief is that their actions reflect poorly on the RN who supervises them.
  - lukeschlather 16y ago
    Leadership abilities can't really be taught, and are always in short supply. It's hard to make the people around you more effective at their jobs.
cookiecaper 16y ago
I went to the ER at IHC recently. I received two hydrocodone during my stay. I was billed $5 for them. Not directly related, but I found this pretty lame and wanted to comment.

matwood 16y ago

We're told to come up with strategies to increase the passing rate. This may be a valid request, but it's impossible to know without more information. If we take your total pool of students we can probably break them down into 4 groups 1) Intelligent and motivated 2) Intelligent and unmotivated 3) Not intelligent and motivated 4) Not intelligent and not motivated Nearly all students in 1) should be passing while nearly all students in 4) should be failing. It's the students in groups 2) and 3) where the teacher can really make a difference. This is where teaching styles, more/less work, etc... come into play. If a large percentage of students from groups 2) and 3) are failing then there may be some teaching issues that need to be addressed. Group 4) simply needs to not be let in the class in the first place.

yequalsx 16y ago
This semester I'm teaching 8th grade level algebra. At a community college this is typically the second most populated course for the math department. Pre-algebra is the number 1 course. I have two students. Call one of them A and one B. A is 27 years old, never had algebra in high school and hasn't had math in 10 years. She's going to college because her hands have arthritis and she can't continue to cut hair (her current profession) for much longer. I'm trying to teach her in one semester stuff that took me a year to learn when I was in eighth grade. I told her the class was going to be tough. I told her it would require a lot of effort on her part and that it would be frustrating. Her response was, "Well, I have a life outside of school and work and I'm not going to sacrifice it." I knew then she would fail. She dropped a few weeks ago. B is Hmong barely speaks English, has 7 kids, a job and never went to school as a child. She's getting an A. Is A's failure my fault? Is B's success my fault? My experience is that groups 2, 4 as you label them are a large majority of the students I encounter. I can't force a student to be willing to sit down and do problems. And algebra is a subject that requires you to do problems to get it. If a student isn't motivated there isn't much I can do. Learning is work. It requires effort. It's frustrating. Students at my college, for the most part, are not willing to go through the frustration, effort, and work necessary to learn. I'm a bad motivator. I've tried to be a better motivator. I believe strongly in the correctness of the Chinese proverb: A teacher can only open the door to the house of knowledge, he can not make you enter.