Failing students easier than expected
Professor Tom Prusa: Rutgers – EconomicsOf course he remembers your name, Tom.
View Professor Profile Your CommentsProfessor Tom Prusa: Rutgers – EconomicsOf course he remembers your name, Tom.
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Tags: Economics, Rutgers University, Tom Prusa
June 8th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I don’t see why any Professor should ever grade on a curve… and how does the multiple-choice option of “None of the above” make an exam so terribly difficult or tricky? If you know your material, you shouldn’t be thrown by that.
I’m not saying that economics is an easy subject; I don’t think it is. But based upon the student comments that I read, it appears to me – someone who knows none of the parties involved (I don’t attend Rutgers) and is therefore completely objective and without a personal agenda – that if a student comes to class, pays attention, takes good notes during lectures, participates in discussions, reads the text, and studies for exams (basically, all the things that a student should be doing), then there isn’t any reason why he or she shouldn’t do well in Professor Prusa’s (or anyone else’s) classes.
It also looks like for every student who did poorly in one of Professor Prusa’s classes, several others did well, proving that the latter is possible. Some of the students who failed exams or who found their courses extremely difficult even admitted knowing where they went wrong – and that always had something to do with cutting corners in terms of preparation… (”Attendance is a must”; “I wish I read the book”; “Don’t text or read the paper in class”; “E-mail him asking for help”; “Difficult but definitely, definitely possible to get an A. You just have to be willing to put in a lot of time and work hard.”).
If you believe that you really have been putting forth the effort and doing your best and you’re still struggling, that’s why professors have office hours – stop by and ask for additional help. If you know the course material but keep getting confused by questions of logic on exams (i.e. “There is not enough information given to answer…”), then spend some time brushing up on your logic skills. If you’re having trouble keeping up with your courseload in general, go to your learning center and get yourself a tutor who can help you to improve your overall study skills (effective notetaking, time-management, etc.). If you’ve bitten off more than you can chew; if, at the beginning of the semester, you recognize from reviewing the syllabus of each class you have that there’s no way you’ll be able to handle that much reading or that number of papers or that many exams all at the same time, don’t set yourself up for failure. Swap one of your reading-intensive classes for another, less demanding course that you need, or drop a class entirely. You can take it next semester, and you can meet with your faculty advisor pre-registration to get some help in choosing the rest of your classes such that you’ll be less likely to get in over your head again. You have access to the resources – you just have to be proactive in seeking them out.
You’re in college now. The standards and expectations are higher; even in 100-level courses, the workload is heavier and more difficult than what you were accustomed to in high school. That doesn’t mean that you can’t rise to the challenge.
Grades are earned – the F’s as much as the A’s. Take responsibility. Do the work.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Why do you need your professor to grade on a curve? Is it just because the exams are hard enough that without the benefit of a grading curve, you would actually have to spend some time studying? Also, how does the inclusion of “None of the above” amongst the other answer options suddenly make a multiple-choice exam especially difficult or “tricky”? If you knew the material, that shouldn’t throw you off – you’d recognize “None of the above” as you would all other choices to each question; that is, as being either A) the right answer, or B) the wrong answer.
It looks to me that if a student comes to class on time, pays attention, takes good notes during lectures, participates in discussions, reads the text, and studies for exams (basically, all the things that a student should be doing), then there isn’t any reason why he or she shouldn’t do well in Professor Prusa’s (or anyone else’s) classes.
It also appears that for every student who did poorly in one of Professor Prusa’s classes, several others did well, proving that the latter is possible. Some of the students who failed exams or who found their courses extremely difficult even admitted knowing where they went wrong – and that always had something to do with cutting corners in terms of preparation… (”Attendance is a must”; “I wish I read the book”; “Don’t text or read the paper in class”; “E-mail him asking for help”; “Difficult but definitely, definitely possible to get an A. You just have to be willing to put in a lot of time and work hard.”).
If you believe that you really have been putting forth the effort and doing your best and you’re still struggling, that’s why professors have office hours – stop by and ask for additional help. If you know the course material but keep getting confused by questions of logic on exams (i.e. “There is not enough information given to answer…”), then spend some time brushing up on your logic skills. If you’re having trouble keeping up with your courseload in general, or your professor’s office hours are inconvenient for you, go to your learning center and get yourself a tutor who can help you to improve your overall study skills (effective note-taking, time-management, etc.). You have access to the resources – you just have to be proactive in seeking them out.
If you’ve bitten off more than you can chew; if, at the beginning of the semester, you recognize from reviewing the syllabus of each class you have that there’s no way you’ll be able to handle that much reading or that number of papers or that many exams all at the same time, don’t set yourself up for failure. Swap one of your reading-intensive classes for another, less demanding course that you need, or drop a class entirely. You can take it next semester, and you can meet with your faculty advisor pre-registration to get some help in choosing the rest of your classes such that you’ll be less likely to get in over your head again.
You’re in college now. The standards and expectations are higher, even in 100-level courses, and the workload is heavier and more difficult than what you were accustomed to in high school. You should have expected that, but even if you didn’t, that doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t be expected to rise to these new challenges.
To all those students everywhere who think that their professors suck and that they were treated unfairly because there was no grading curve, or there was too much reading, or the TA’s graded essays too harshly (What does that even mean? They took off points for poor grammar, spelling, structure, cohesiveness, and clarity? You should lose points for those things!), or writing assignments counted for too high a percentage of the class grade (Again, learn to write better), or the professor didn’t create practice exams for you or otherwise spoon-feed everything to you, or there was a mandatory attendance policy, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam:
Grow up. Stop making excuses. Stop pointing fingers at everyone else for your own mistakes and deficiencies. Grades are earned – the F’s as much as the A’s. Take responsibility. Do the work or don’t; it’s up to you, but if you end up with a poor grade, you have only yourself to blame.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Your words mesmerized me.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:58 am
lol soo no professor is horrbile huh ?
June 17th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I wonder if Jennifer understands the importance of solidarity. Certainly her teachers do. No wonder students are treated as badly as they are by teachers. No teacher would ever take the side of a student against another teacher because they “do” understand the importance of solidarity. Also I wonder if Jennifer has passed her Professional Ethics course yet because if she has she obviously didn’t grasp the meaning of the “informed consent doctrine.” If she had she should have understood that prospective postsecondary students should be warned ahead of time (before they pay so much money) about the massive amounts of homework given by postsecondary teachers. Perhaps when Jennifer grows up, gets a job and joins a union she’ll think back and realize how silly she was.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Cathy, I wonder where you get the idea that there is some wort of battle of us against them (meaning students against teachers). Your reference to solidarity and siding with/against each other is ridiculus. There is not us against them. There are only student learning and professors teaching. Then again you reference growing up, getting a job and JOINING A UNION! I can guarantee when I grow up and get a job, it will NOT be a job requiring me to join a union. You don’t need a degree for one of those jobs, you can get that right now. When you grow up and get your job with the union, YOU will realize how silly you are.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Whoa. Who gave Cathy the dictionary this time? Great; another verbose fool slinging words s/he doesn’t understand. Just to compound what Daphne said, solidarity–”unity or agreement of feeling or action, esp. among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group” (courtesy Oxford dictionary). Or, a Polish trading union. Either one. But either way, your comments manifest some severe handicaps in translating your thoughts/ analyzing a situation and drawing coherent thoughts. What is wrong with one student bashing another? If Jennifer wants to reprimand students for whining about tricky tests, let her go for it (just an example). Rarely have I ever seen eye-to-eye with my fellow students, so solidarity is hardly something with which I’ll trouble. It’s not like there’s a revolution crouching and waiting…. or is there?
June 25th, 2008 at 3:39 am
I had him. He was an okay teacher, didn’t really care about us (his students)!
June 25th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Also, he told us that he bought an ipod instead of buying his daughter a Wii.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Yeah jennifer! shup up! u crazy freak! U think by doing that it will always work! yeah right! There are truly bad teachers!
June 26th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Some people are dumb. Therefore they can’t do school.. duhhhh..
June 29th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Daphne wrote
“I can guarantee when I grow up and get a job, it will NOT be a job requiring me to join a union. You don’t need a degree for one of those jobs, you can get that right now.”
Teachers unions are extremely powerful. Teachers have degrees. Duh
June 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
“Dana writes”
“Rarely have I ever seen eye-to-eye with my fellow students, so solidarity is hardly something with which I’ll trouble.”
Certainly solidarity is not something you’ll bother with, however your well organized and powerful teachers unions do. And if they don’t they get fined. How naive you are.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Jennifer–
when u do bad in your college classes, I hope you’re not the one complaining that there isn’t any curve. In my organic chem class, the class average was 38%, so even if it wasn’t the teacher’s fault, you have to make it on a curve or else you’ll be in big trouble. So do us all a favor and shut the **** up, you conceited *****.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:46 am
I agree with most of the above, Jennifer is a ****.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:33 am
He reminds of that i love britney spears – chris? – guy from you tube.
August 24th, 2008 at 5:36 am
When I read the posts on this page, I was left with the overwhelming notion that all I can do is weep for the future… >sob<…
September 13th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Flunking students is easier than I thought it was as well.
In fact, I consider it to be a great favor to them. Caving in and giving them a barely passing grades only encourages poor study habits which will curse them for life. It is not like money and happiness come raining from the sky when you get that piece of paper you didn’t earn.
Flunk them and they have two options:
1. Learn from it and do better next time and in all classes making you a much better student who will have the tools to succeed in all their endeavors.
2. Cry a lot, which will not get you your grade change, and then do the same thing next term, get an F again and get thrown out. This will get you tossed out which will save you tuition and get you started in your exciting career in the service industry!
It is a win/win situation.
September 13th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I don’t grade on a curve. You get what you earn and you don’t get a better grade because there are students that did even more poorly as you did, nor do you get a worse grade because there are more intelligent students.
If everyone earns an A(fat chance), I have no problem giving them all A’s and I will easily be able to justify it. If everyone gets an F, I will have a problem with that, but if that is what they earned, then F’s all around!
September 14th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Eiledon,
What if you happen to write a bad exam? I mean, even the best of proffs do that sometimes.
Also, if you were to flunk everyone wouldn’t that make you look ineffective as an instructor?
September 14th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Whatever,
Years ago, when I was a freshman and taking geology, I misread the syllabus and studied the wrong chapters for the midterm. When the grades were posted, I discovered that I had gotten only 56% of the items correct.
When I asked the proff what my options were, he smiled and said, “drop back 10 yards and punt”.
He was right. I dropped the course and picked it up the following year. Result: a final grade of A.
Things happen. Heading towards a failing grade need not invoke drama. It is the rare student who doesn’t drop at least one course during his or her collegiate experience, and dropping a course isn’t a tragedy. It’s an inconvenience. Period.
I worked in the service industry in order to help pay my way through college, btw.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:53 am
If the exam is worded incorrectly, or has incorrect answers, I will adjust grades. But they have to challenge and defend the question.
It is not hard to pass my class, but so many flunk.
If I flunked the entire class(which is likely never happen, I will win the lottery before that happens and I never play) I can justify it, if anyone questions it.
I have taught the same class with the same assignments and tests and got radically different results for the class as a whole. Given that admissions allows anyone who has a heartbeat, it is not surprising that students struggle, even in simple classes.
September 14th, 2008 at 5:35 am
So what? College students work in the service industry to survive the college years. College dropouts make a career out of it.
Dropping classes is sometimes better, but you might not know you are in trouble until it is too late. Some schools put a limit on drops and it can hurt your financial aid eligibility. I have had students around 95% at midterm only to flunk. The last three weeks did them in, and at my school that is past the withdrawal deadline.
In every case, it is a colossal waste of time, and money, period. It is better to not put yourself in that position.
September 14th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Eiledon,
Thank you for responding. I read your response and recognize that it is intellectually honest.
I also agree with you regarding admissions. I remember sitting in a psychology class at NMSU, and the girl sitting next to me initiated a conversation with me. We had a nice chat until she asked me where I lived prior to moving to New Mexico. When I answered that I lived in Virginia, she replied, “Oh. Is that, like, in the east?”
I’ll never know whether or not she was flatline…
September 19th, 2008 at 4:13 am
A good student can learn the material and get an A(maybe a B) regardless of whether or not the professor is good or bad.
Take responsibility for your learning. It is not the professors job to make sure you learned something. If you don’t learn anything and/or flunk it is always the students fault. This happened because you didn’t engage in the class nor did you take it upon yourself to learn the material. This is college, it is not high school. The point of college is to learn how to learn, so you can succeed in anything you choose to do.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
U NOW WHAT iDK CARE ..!! **** IT.~!! GET A LIFE.! SERIOUSLY!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Cathy: When I was an undergrad I had teachers side with me against other teachers. It’s a conflict in the work place but when you’re wrong, you’re wrong. Just like when you’re a bad teacher, no point in teaching if you can’t do it right…. either fix it or find a new profession. The same goes for students… when you’re in the wrong then you’re in the wrong and if you can’t fix your problem then you deserve what you get
You’re union is only strong when it deals with benefits and pay cuts. Other than that… you can imagine that there is a sacred bond that defies morals, values, and fairness in society… Remember, the second a fellow teacher wants to teach your classes… your “union” is obsolete.
August 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 am
schools have an obligation to comparatively rank students on a bell curve. that is the entire purpose of a curve. so if you got an 94% as a final grade in a class of 60 people, but your 94 was the lowest grade of all students, you should still get an A? no, you should get an F based on your relative ranking. same thing goes for many engineering classes where the best students get 60's and the worst get 30's. Should the kids who get 60's simply receive a "D" for the class. No, not based on their relative ranking. They should earn "A"s based on a curve. You need to learn more about pedagogy before you make ignorant arguments such as the junk you wrote above.
August 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 am
schools have an obligation to comparatively rank students on a bell curve. that is the entire purpose of a curve. so if you got an 94% as a final grade in a class of 60 people, but your 94 was the lowest grade of all students, you should still get an A? no, you should get an F based on your relative ranking. same thing goes for many engineering classes where the best students get 60's and the worst get 30's. Should the kids who get 60's simply receive a "D" for the class. No, not based on their relative ranking. They should earn "A"s based on a curve. You need to learn more about pedagogy before you make ignorant arguments such as the junk you wrote above.