NSU professor loses job in dispute over grades

PilotOnline.com ^ | May 4, 2008 | Bill Sizemore

[Chode]

the first day of college english i was exposed to a basketball bozo who told the class (during the required stand up and introduce yourself)and i quote... "I lites bassetball, girls, i be lawyer."

a fight nearly broke out when i told him "you NEED lawyer before you ever be one... i had to take a test to get into this class, how the hell did you ever get in here???"

needless to say he never came back to class but... i did see his worthless azz couple days later in the commons with an english 100 textbook.

See dopey. See dopey run with a bassetball!!! 8^)

[LibFreeOrDie]

Links to the course materials:

http://sst.nsu.edu/coursematerials.php

Click on the name of a course to see course requirements.

At the top of each course page are links to Chapters, Syllabus, Objectives, Labs, Practice Area, Lecture Notes, Sample Tests.

For some courses, the links are to extensive material on the textbook’s Web site. Other courses link to the prof’s own materials.

I’m guessing that the students have poor reading comprehension, did not take challenging science courses in high school, and sailed through K-12.

[stylin19a]

In contrast, James said, she easily received an A in another class. "Yes, it looks nice when you get out with a 4.0 GPA, but then you go to medical school and you know nothing."

someone gets it.

[irv]

Every student doesn't learn in the same way

I was willing to consider the possibility that the guy is just too tough on them but the above statement from the university is telling. When they pull this one out, it is ALWAYS a dodge. A cheap and disingenuous way to say, "Shut up and trust us. We're experts."

[tired1]

Wait until they get into the work force...”

a government job awaits, rest assured.

[goodnesswins]

What’s really sad now is that I hesitate going to a “minority” doctor.....

[tired1]

Is it just me?””

who cares, and what’s your problem?

[pillut48]

As a former teacher, I also found the lack of correct grammar/grammatical skills appalling. :-( Unfortunately, ebonics passes for passing nowadays!!

[tired1]

relax, you’re in bad company. to quote our Pres: “Chilrn does lern”.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Your suggestion that there be either a course with more stringent prerequisites or that the course be split into two or more courses has a lot of merit.

When I entered Temple Un. in Sept. 1962, I had just come out of a good high school biology class with an A. Upon signing up for basic Biology to meet my science requirements, we were told (about 300 of us) that “Look your left and look to your right, because most of them won’t be back next semester”. We weren’t.

I learned from one of my lab partners (who was about 6 years older than me and a pre-med student) that this Biology 101 was a Med School wash-out class. If they had told us that earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted the time and money that I did.

A non-pre-Med school biology course could have been devised for those of us who were just mere mortals.

As for math, which I only passed in high school because my math teacher was a saint who had mercy on me, Temple had a “Finite Math” course and the regular Trig/Calculus courses (which I had either flunked or barely passed in high school - advanced courses). I passed Finite Math with very good grades and my soul intact.

I still use the principles of “Finite Sets” for my work and was using them to explain a political principle tonight to a colleague who is a national columnist/media analyst. And it made sense, too.

However, my high school advanced courses allowed me to cruise thru history (same book), and other courses before I got to the challenging ones.

Kids today are basically illiterate, both verbally and in writing, cannot form concise statement of fact to explain something, nor can they enunciate principles in a clear and articulate manner.

Hey, dude, duh, you know, like, you have to understand what I mean, etc. just doesn’t cut it in the real world.

[Last Dakotan]

Dr. Sowell gets it.

I wonder what grade he would have gotten in the class.

[quantar]

Many years ago, when I took Organic Chem, my class had 15 students. The results: one A, one B, three C's, one D and 9 F's. This was common at the time (late 60s). (I earned the B).
I am now an Adjunct Math Prof (retired) and just finished the grades for my Intro to Alg for this Spring Semester. The results: one A, 13 B's, 13 C's, one D and 20 F's. Eighteen of the F's were really FA (failure to attend); the students just stopped coming to class for whatever reason.
BTW my student evals are among the highest in the dept.

[Revolting cat!]

Dude, I wish I were in school now. With my motivation, advanced techiniques of slacking off, and drinking habits, I'd earn a Ph.D in no time! "Doctor Revolting cat! will be your surgeon today."

[pillut48]

Hey, dude, duh, you know, like, you have to understand what I mean, etc. just doesn’t cut it in the real world.

Unless you are B. Hussein Ubama, LOL! :-)

[editor-surveyor]

"I really don’t want any of the D and F students to be MY DOCTOR"

And oh boy am I glad that I don't have a doctor!

[an amused spectator]

I just read your post about the opinions on ratemyprofessors.com. Is it just me or do these students need grammar lessons too?

Yogi Bear:

"Hey, hey! F*ck literacy, Boo-Boo!"

[PrincessB]

I am not going to look up Norfolk State (but probably should) however I can probably make an guess as to the adminstration’s motivation.

Norfolk State is probably not in the top 20 of the U.S. News & World Report rankings. One of the killers for lower tier schools is “retention.” That is code for the percentage of first-time, full-time freshman that graduate in six years. My guess is that NSU isn’t close to the 80% or so of top tier schools. You can’t retain students who flunk out.