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I wish colleges wouldn't hate on failing a class so much. Failing a class is an excellent learning experience allowing students to realize the extent of their k

by foxyv 4y ago

I wish colleges wouldn't hate on failing a class so much. Failing a class is an excellent learning experience allowing students to realize the extent of their knowledge and ability. Failure forces reassessment of priorities. Instead, colleges make it a black mark against a student to be avoided at all costs. I mean, how hard is it for these students to just take the class again with their added knowledge? Why not just overwrite the previous grade with the new one? Why do they run these classes in series so that anyone who fails pretty much loses an entire year? Why is it such a huge deal that they had to fire a teacher over it? It's not like colleges aren't getting enough money. Especially NYU! Acadamia is so gung-ho about research and papers but so freaking lazy about teaching. Just look at what they pay TAs and associate professors!

throwaway2016a 4y ago
In most colleges your grade on your transcript will get overwritten by the new grade if you take the class again. And your GPA will be adjusted accordingly. Don't forget that NYU credits (if the Google results I found are accurate) are $2,020 and Chemistry is usually a 4 credit class. You don't get refunds for failed classes so that is a $8,000 loss. And it might delay graduation. It has real consequences. But it also sounds like the professor was bad at writing exam questions. He was failing people at a statistically improbable rate. I used to teach at a university and we generally aimed for a bell curve. And if too many people were on the A side of the bell curve the odds are your class was too easy and if too many people were on the F side it was too hard. Either way when taken as the statistical aggregate it is usually the professor's fault not the student's.
- foxyv 4y ago
  I had a lot of professors that seemed to hate students and take pride in making them fail horribly. They took pride that their bell curves were way to the left. I learned the least in those classes because they were designed to not teach anything. Sometimes classes are too easy because they teach really well. I had an astrophysics professor who spent a lot of time learning how to teach subjects. His classes seemed remarkably easy, yet we covered WAY more material than the 30% mean bell curve ones. He was just REALLY good at presenting the material and cementing knowledge using interactive learning and other really cool teaching methods.
- decafninja 4y ago
  But NYU does not. At least not when I attended many years ago. Your final grade is the average of all the times you took the class. So if you got an F, then an A, your grade on the transcript and GPA is a C. Like you said, other colleges may overwrite instead of averaging. I envied my friends that went to schools like this.
  - foxyv 4y ago
    Also, a lot of colleges like to put you on an Academic Improvement Plan if you fail a class which feels a lot like being punished or shamed and my friends would drop a class instead of risk it. It shows up on your transcripts too, even if you re-take the class. So, when you apply to graduate programs or for a transfer, it can hurt your chances and lower the GPA. Schools are run too much like pressure cookers sometimes. I hated the stress so much, despite loving the subjects. It seems like a lot of the students come out pre-burnt and still ignorant anyways.
    - decafninja 4y ago
      Many years after graduating I sometimes started reading up on subjects I absolutely loathed in school, only to find them fascinating and interesting. Slight tangent, but I feel the same way about leetcode too. Solving leetcode problems is actually quite fun - if you take out the timed pressure cooker “your career and future depends on it” environment of an interview.

by foxyv 4y ago

throwaway2016a 4y ago

In most colleges your grade on your transcript will get overwritten by the new grade if you take the class again. And your GPA will be adjusted accordingly. Don't forget that NYU credits (if the Google results I found are accurate) are $2,020 and Chemistry is usually a 4 credit class. You don't get refunds for failed classes so that is a $8,000 loss. And it might delay graduation. It has real consequences. But it also sounds like the professor was bad at writing exam questions. He was failing people at a statistically improbable rate. I used to teach at a university and we generally aimed for a bell curve. And if too many people were on the A side of the bell curve the odds are your class was too easy and if too many people were on the F side it was too hard. Either way when taken as the statistical aggregate it is usually the professor's fault not the student's.

foxyv 4y ago
I had a lot of professors that seemed to hate students and take pride in making them fail horribly. They took pride that their bell curves were way to the left. I learned the least in those classes because they were designed to not teach anything. Sometimes classes are too easy because they teach really well. I had an astrophysics professor who spent a lot of time learning how to teach subjects. His classes seemed remarkably easy, yet we covered WAY more material than the 30% mean bell curve ones. He was just REALLY good at presenting the material and cementing knowledge using interactive learning and other really cool teaching methods.
decafninja 4y ago
But NYU does not. At least not when I attended many years ago. Your final grade is the average of all the times you took the class. So if you got an F, then an A, your grade on the transcript and GPA is a C. Like you said, other colleges may overwrite instead of averaging. I envied my friends that went to schools like this.
- foxyv 4y ago
  Also, a lot of colleges like to put you on an Academic Improvement Plan if you fail a class which feels a lot like being punished or shamed and my friends would drop a class instead of risk it. It shows up on your transcripts too, even if you re-take the class. So, when you apply to graduate programs or for a transfer, it can hurt your chances and lower the GPA. Schools are run too much like pressure cookers sometimes. I hated the stress so much, despite loving the subjects. It seems like a lot of the students come out pre-burnt and still ignorant anyways.
  - decafninja 4y ago
    Many years after graduating I sometimes started reading up on subjects I absolutely loathed in school, only to find them fascinating and interesting. Slight tangent, but I feel the same way about leetcode too. Solving leetcode problems is actually quite fun - if you take out the timed pressure cooker “your career and future depends on it” environment of an interview.