Timeline for Is my approach to discouraging whiners from taking my class acceptable?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
47 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 23 at 3:20 | comment | added | usr0192 | @whoisit the responsibilities of the position are teaching, service, and research. I got into it as I love math i.e. the research part but am terrible at it so I'm at a regional teaching-focused institution. Love teaching when students are willing to work hard to learn the material. I have since learned to just bite my tongue basically ... many students are just trying to survive life and just want to get a degree in hopes of some job, and I can now - years since the post - appreciate where they are coming from; I have been and am a lot more privileged than them | |
| Jan 17 at 14:18 | comment | added | whoisit | @op: If you don't like teaching, why did you choose this career? I feel sorry for all your students! | |
| Feb 9, 2023 at 8:31 | comment | added | user111388 | "Math is fun" - I am a mathematician and feel the same way - however, this is not the case for all people. Business people who take this class might never see it the same way and see math as something they need, not something which is fun. | |
| Jun 10, 2020 at 14:12 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Sep 10, 2018 at 10:43 | comment | added | Lightness Races in Orbit | You certainly wouldn't get me taking this course as described. No matter whether the onus is on the student or the teacher, this description is extraordinarily hostile and (as covered by others) some of the practical measures you have described are inappropriate. | |
| Sep 9, 2018 at 6:13 | comment | added | C Perkins | Remind the students often during the lectures what they CAN do, not what they should not do. A quick reminder about "Please come to my office hours if you are having difficulty" and then be prepared to help potentially whiny students. As the course progresses, you can add more detail with a sincere plea that "Some of your exam results indicate a need to resolve misunderstandings... Please come to office hours, go to tutor station, etc." Not everyone who needs help will go, but this can reduce public whining by publicly placing responsibility on the student. If they never come, it's on them. | |
| Sep 9, 2018 at 0:21 | comment | added | user96809 | 've never been more pleased to see Update notes. Good luck with your class! | |
| Sep 8, 2018 at 1:51 | comment | added | aeismail | @usr0192: The comment you refer to has most likely been moved to chat. | |
| Sep 8, 2018 at 1:41 | comment | added | usr0192 | @NateEldredge fair enough. but in defense of fearofmusic, he/she was responding to a most definitely unkind comment that I guess has since been deleted. | |
| Sep 8, 2018 at 1:37 | comment | added | Nate Eldredge | @fearofmusic: It's fine to disagree, but I think when you call people "trolls" because they disagree with you, you're skating close to the line of "unkind". See academia.stackexchange.com/conduct | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 21:22 | comment | added | fearofmusic | @only_pro I realize that it may seem paradoxical, but yes, it is their job in that it is explicitly expected of them to do the work given to them by the professor. The OP can not do the learning for them, he can not make them more prepared than the students who put in more effort. He can't make them grow up and take responsibility for how hard they work toward the most positive outcome, not can he be expected to take into account reasons the students have for why the class should be tailored to them specifically. Why have a grading scale if everyone thinks they should get a good grade? | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 20:51 | comment | added | user91988 | @fearofmusic Really? It's the students' job? They're paying for college, not the other way around (I assume this is in the US since OP calls it "college"). It's the teacher's job to teach... I'm confused what OP actually plans to do when "teaching" this course. | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 20:35 | comment | added | fearofmusic | Are these all troll accounts? He sounds like a nasty person? He's rude? By what metric? Students whose job it literally is to take the material seriously, and not whine like toddlers, are essentially throwing temper tantrums because this guy dares to hold them accountable for their end of the deal. The bold assumptions made too, about what the appropriate difficulty of the class should be because it has business in the title, are baseless and idiotic. | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 18:07 | comment | added | Dylan | I would recommend you practice patience. You don't have to adjust how difficult the test is. Just get used to ignoring the whiners! | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 17:54 | history | edited | usr0192 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 7, 2018 at 17:46 | comment | added | Ellen Spertus | This is a trick question. Students don't read the syllabus. | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 15:04 | answer | added | arp | timeline score: 6 | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 12:43 | comment | added | JonH | As an outsider I read your entire post and frankly I would think just from your tone (cockiness?) you are a rude person and that no one would want to be in your class. This may wreck your entire career. Just sayin... | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 8:00 | comment | added | Dan Fox | Keep in mind that the weak students you are worried about will not read the syllabus or pay much attention to your exposition of it. What will work better is to explain why the exercises and exams you set are the way they are and why they are not identical to those from past years etc. Take a constructive approach. Explain your goals and intentions. | |
| Sep 7, 2018 at 7:24 | answer | added | Basj | timeline score: 8 | |
| Sep 6, 2018 at 19:36 | comment | added | GetSwifty | FWIW, I had a couple professors that actually showed the test score statistics. (Average, high, and median) if I remember correctly) and went over some of the questions with low scores to explain and/or throw them out if it was thought to be misleading or unfair. I really liked that as a student and I would also expect it to also give potential complainers the context to know that they simply scored worse than others. | |
| Sep 6, 2018 at 11:26 | answer | added | peterh | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 6, 2018 at 8:08 | answer | added | user21820 | timeline score: 1 | |
| S Sep 6, 2018 at 2:40 | history | mod moved comments to chat | |||
| S Sep 6, 2018 at 2:40 | comment | added | eykanal | Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. | |
| Sep 5, 2018 at 19:57 | answer | added | ti7 | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 5, 2018 at 8:41 | history | protected | Wrzlprmft♦ | ||
| Sep 5, 2018 at 1:59 | answer | added | Patricia Shanahan | timeline score: 86 | |
| Sep 5, 2018 at 1:58 | answer | added | Trusly | timeline score: 10 | |
| Sep 5, 2018 at 1:51 | history | edited | usr0192 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 5, 2018 at 1:45 | history | edited | usr0192 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| S Sep 5, 2018 at 1:13 | history | suggested | Tim | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Formatting, grammar, word choice, title
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| Sep 5, 2018 at 1:06 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Sep 5, 2018 at 1:13 | |||||
| S Sep 5, 2018 at 1:03 | history | suggested | Peter Mortensen | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 5, 2018 at 0:41 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| Sep 4, 2018 at 15:02 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackAcademia/status/1036992887827968000 | ||
| Sep 4, 2018 at 14:13 | answer | added | Pieter B | timeline score: 16 | |
| Sep 4, 2018 at 12:32 | answer | added | JWH2006 | timeline score: 7 | |
| Sep 4, 2018 at 6:15 | answer | added | Dan Romik | timeline score: 75 | |
| Sep 4, 2018 at 6:13 | answer | added | Daniel R. Collins | timeline score: 39 | |
| Sep 4, 2018 at 5:00 | vote | accept | usr0192 | ||
| Sep 4, 2018 at 4:45 | answer | added | aeismail | timeline score: 14 | |
| Sep 4, 2018 at 4:34 | history | edited | aeismail | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 4, 2018 at 3:15 | answer | added | mathochist | timeline score: 12 | |
| Sep 4, 2018 at 2:23 | answer | added | Nate Eldredge | timeline score: 238 | |
| Sep 4, 2018 at 1:00 | review | First posts | |||
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| Sep 4, 2018 at 0:59 | history | asked | usr0192 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |