I was hired as a replacement to someone who didn't get our equivalent of tenure. Apparently this was the nicest person ever and pretty popular with the students. But apparently this person was too nice in that they just couldn't stand to leave unprepared students behind, and aimed the class for the bottom half.
Even though SRU isn't that selective, in the sciences we have an excellent reputation about getting our students into professional schools and graduate schools and other semi-professional programs. Well, apparently the preparation of the students for these programs started to suffer, and complaints started to pile up. So after departmental gnashing of teeth regarding my predecessor, I was brought in with a clear mandate: RIGOR. This actually fits my personality well as I am a relatively intense and ambitious person who loves people and science.
Of course my job is not to crush students. And I certainly don't. I simply say "The bar is here. It ain't goin' anywhere. Now what can I do to get you there?" While I perseverate seriously about whether those students that will fail my class could have been helped in any way, usually the point is moot, since stduents that aren't that well prepared (bright?) don't get intrinsic rewards for studying, so they don't like to put in the effort either. It's a vicious cycle... I see myself digressing, more about that later.
In any case, I have the blessing (mandate) from my department and the programs that get our students (who make themselves VERY clear) to keep the bar high. Given that I have great evaluations too, I feel pretty secure in my job.
What I really care about is whether those failing students can be helped, and what I can do to get them to the bar. Moreover, I've decided that even if they can't hit the bar, I want them to still be educated citizens and consumers with critical thinking skills. I want these flunking students to bring their children up reading to them and instilling curiosity. I want to save the world by getting my flunking students as educated as I can, even if they fail.
Key problem> "Even though SRU isn't that selective, in the sciences we have an excellent reputation about getting our students into professional schools and graduate schools and other semi-professional programs. Well, apparently the preparation of the students for these programs started to suffer, and complaints started to pile up."
ReplyDeletethis means that someone (in this case you) will be the "cruel one who is open to be blamed". It's easy, if they want to guarentee standards getting met, then they need to realise that more students will fail than the last couple of years. Easy as pie. And hard for you.
And I do think you can help some of the students failing. Maybe the class doesn't have enough of "various techniques to acquire the knowledge"? i.e. both labs, interactive, group work and lectures? Or maybe it is that the class is known for being a slack class? (although, one wonders if they didn't pick that up with thier first midterm exam...)
i wrote this in the response to the histogram, if you could see if these students who got an F are failing in other classes as well (or if they were "on the cusp getting into the program") this might answer a bit of things for you?!
In any event, merry christmas!