I don't know that I have any useful advice, other than to say that I took a class at Evergreen one time (16 credit course, so it was my full academic load for a quarter) where I had a very similar situation with the teacher that I had for most of it. It was obvious that seminars that occurred without him went better than ones that he was present for, and there were a lot of issues with the students (or at least what I saw as issues, such as inability to coherently state anything about the relation of the Kosovo conflict to the Holocaust other than to say that it was "sad") that he seemed to foster because it meant that they weren't making any rational arguments against his point of view.
I've since felt that I should have said something, either to him, to his coteacher, or to the administration regarding the class, since it became merely a forum for supporting the teacher's opinion in the face of any and all opposition.
However, at Evergreen, at least I was able to say some of that to him via the teacher evaluation that's part of every course (not sure how familiar you are with their grading structure/policies). I think I'd suggest that if you're genuinely concerned that the teacher might wind up losing his job, a letter to him outlining your issues might be helpful.
But at the same time it depends on how much involvement you want to have in what happens next year, because while he might be receptive to a letter critiquing the issues from your point of view, he might not, as well, and it might take something like getting placed on some sort of probation or firing to make him realise that what he is doing is wrong, in the most basic sense of the word.
You didn't pay his salary to not learn what he had to teach, is what it comes to. And I think I can say, from my standpoint now, that I wish I had stated my views more clearly to my teacher, rather than what I did do.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 01:32 pm (UTC)I've since felt that I should have said something, either to him, to his coteacher, or to the administration regarding the class, since it became merely a forum for supporting the teacher's opinion in the face of any and all opposition.
However, at Evergreen, at least I was able to say some of that to him via the teacher evaluation that's part of every course (not sure how familiar you are with their grading structure/policies). I think I'd suggest that if you're genuinely concerned that the teacher might wind up losing his job, a letter to him outlining your issues might be helpful.
But at the same time it depends on how much involvement you want to have in what happens next year, because while he might be receptive to a letter critiquing the issues from your point of view, he might not, as well, and it might take something like getting placed on some sort of probation or firing to make him realise that what he is doing is wrong, in the most basic sense of the word.
You didn't pay his salary to not learn what he had to teach, is what it comes to. And I think I can say, from my standpoint now, that I wish I had stated my views more clearly to my teacher, rather than what I did do.