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Dan Romik
Dan Romik
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I second the advice in @mathochist’s answer not to use the word “whine” or any of its derivatives. Even if you were to use a related or equivalent termMoreover, I would wonder why you even think it makes sense to have the sentiment that whining should “not be tolerated”? Your job includes dealing with students who will sometimes struggle with your class and may give voice to their unhappiness; this is simply human nature. So, tolerating “whining” is in your job description.

Instead of putting draconian restrictions on your students about what they may or may not say, perhaps you shouldcan work on your own attitude, and give some thought to how to teach in a way that leads students to be happy instead of to whinefeeling like whining, or, if they do whine, how to deal with that effectively or even turn their whining into a teachable moment with some positive benefit? Just a thought.

There is a wonderful rule in writing and communication called “show, don’t tell”. You will never convince anyone that math is fun by saying things like “math is fun!” Instead, you have to show them that math is fun. So, while the sentiment you are expressing here is very valid and laudable, this paragraph serves no useful purpose other than to clutter up your syllabus. I suggest removing it.

To summarize, it sounds like you have noble ideas about teaching math, but at the end of the day, you are teaching calculus, not philosophy. I would reserve the syllabus for listing the actual topics you plan to cover and other practical matters like a grading policy etc (you’d be lucky if most students even read those parts), and leave the philosophical discussions to athose few minutes here and there induring lecture if/when it makes sense or you are in a particularly philosophical mood. And please try to be more tolerant of students’ venting about their struggles in your class.

I second the advice in @mathochist’s answer not to use the word “whine” or any of its derivatives. Even if you were to use a related or equivalent term, I would wonder why you even think it makes sense that whining should “not be tolerated”? Your job includes dealing with students who will sometimes struggle with your class and may give voice to their unhappiness; this is simply human nature. So, tolerating “whining” is in your job description.

Instead of putting draconian restrictions on your students about what they may or may not say, perhaps you should work on your own attitude, and give some thought to how to teach in a way that leads students to be happy instead of to whine, or, if they do whine, how to deal with that effectively or even turn their whining into a teachable moment with some positive benefit? Just a thought.

There is a wonderful rule in writing and communication called “show, don’t tell”. You will never convince anyone that math is fun by saying things like “math is fun!” Instead, you have to show them that math is fun. So, while the sentiment you are expressing here is very valid and laudable, this paragraph serves no useful purpose other than to clutter your syllabus. I suggest removing it.

To summarize, it sounds like you have noble ideas about teaching math, but at the end of the day, you are teaching calculus, not philosophy. I would reserve the syllabus for listing the actual topics you plan to cover and other practical matters (you’d be lucky if most students even read those parts), and leave the philosophical discussions to a few minutes here and there in lecture if/when it makes sense or you are in a philosophical mood. And please try to be more tolerant of students’ venting about their struggles in your class.

I second the advice in @mathochist’s answer not to use the word “whine” or any of its derivatives. Moreover, I would wonder why you even think it makes sense to have the sentiment that whining should “not be tolerated”? Your job includes dealing with students who will sometimes struggle with your class and may give voice to their unhappiness; this is simply human nature. So, tolerating “whining” is in your job description.

Instead of putting draconian restrictions on your students about what they may or may not say, perhaps you can work on your own attitude, and give some thought to how to teach in a way that leads students to be happy instead of feeling like whining, or, if they do whine, how to deal with that effectively or even turn their whining into a teachable moment with some positive benefit? Just a thought.

There is a wonderful rule in writing and communication called “show, don’t tell”. You will never convince anyone that math is fun by saying things like “math is fun!” Instead, you have to show them that math is fun. So, while the sentiment you are expressing here is very valid and laudable, this paragraph serves no useful purpose other than to clutter up your syllabus. I suggest removing it.

To summarize, it sounds like you have noble ideas about teaching math, but at the end of the day, you are teaching calculus, not philosophy. I would reserve the syllabus for listing the actual topics you plan to cover and other practical matters like a grading policy etc (you’d be lucky if most students even read those parts), and leave the philosophical discussions to those few minutes here and there during lecture if/when it makes sense or you are in a particularly philosophical mood. And please try to be more tolerant of students’ venting about their struggles in your class.

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Dan Romik
Dan Romik
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I see several issues with your syllabus draft that are worth thinking about some more.

Course objectives, goals, policies, etc:

  1. The main goal is to help you learn how to teach yourself math. I will not be able to teach you all the math you need to know, either for this course or for the rest of your life. You will have to teach yourself some of the material by reading the textbook. If you can't learn by reading a textbook, please withdraw.

Your “main goal” is very commendable, but it is hopelessly unattainable within the scope of a calculus class. The skill of being able to teach oneself math from a textbook takes several years to master, and I would not assume a student has it (or is capable of acquiring it) until they are at an advanced stage in a math graduate program. So the last sentence is effectively telling 99% of your students they need to withdraw from the class.

  1. Whining will not be tolerated. If my course is too demanding, please withdraw.

I second the advice in @mathochist’s answer not to use the word “whine” or any of its derivatives. Even if you were to use a related or equivalent term, I would wonder why you even think it makes sense that whining should “not be tolerated”? Your job includes dealing with students who will sometimes struggle with your class and may give voice to their unhappiness; this is simply human nature. So, tolerating “whining” is in your job description.

Instead of putting draconian restrictions on your students about what they may or may not say, perhaps you should work on your own attitude, and give some thought to how to teach in a way that leads students to be happy instead of to whine, or, if they do whine, how to deal with that effectively or even turn their whining into a teachable moment with some positive benefit? Just a thought.

  1. The goal is for you to do mathematics, not just to``know'' it. The more math problems you do by yourself, the better. Math eventually becomes fun when you do things yourself.

There is a wonderful rule in writing and communication called “show, don’t tell”. You will never convince anyone that math is fun by saying things like “math is fun!” Instead, you have to show them that math is fun. So, while the sentiment you are expressing here is very valid and laudable, this paragraph serves no useful purpose other than to clutter your syllabus. I suggest removing it.

  1. The purpose of lectures is to help you keep pace with the material, and show some of what you need to learn. (And to address math questions you had). The purpose of lectures is not mainly to teach you the material, although there will of course be some of that.

I also don’t understand what purpose this paragraph serves. I suggest keeping you thoughts about what the purpose of lectures is to yourself. Lectures are a standard part of university life and everyone has their own idea about what they’re good for and how useful they are (with some students considering them very important, others less so). Do you really think any one of the small number of students who bother to read this part of your syllabus will change their behavior in any way, or stop and say to themselves “wow, I never thought of it that way! This has completely transformed the way I think about lectures”? I don’t think that’s very likely...

  1. Students who I suspect have cheated, whine about how difficult the course is, or are disruptive during class may get slightly more difficult exams than other students. If you have a problem with this policy, please withdraw from this class.

This is just awful, for reasons explained well in the other answers.

To summarize, it sounds like you have noble ideas about teaching math, but at the end of the day, you are teaching calculus, not philosophy. I would reserve the syllabus for listing the actual topics you plan to cover and other practical matters (you’d be lucky if most students even read those parts), and leave the philosophical discussions to a few minutes here and there in lecture if/when it makes sense or you are in a philosophical mood. And please try to be more tolerant of students’ venting about their struggles in your class.