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Ethical Quandary and Distraction
I'm distracted from the work I should be doing right now, and I'm going to make myself go offline for the rest of the week.
The distraction is not LJ, but a tough decision.
I have a class called Intercultural Communication. There have been a lot of problems throughout the year.
I feel I've learned almost nothing in this class.
- We did not use a textbook.
- We discussed but were not provided specific definitions for terms, yet the final test required definitions.
- The class was split between lecture and discussion, with the emphasis on discussion, but the discussion had two problems:
1) It revolved primarily around the teacher's political views and opposing views to the teacher's were belittled.
For example, one student with conservative views was called by the teacher, "well now he's the sort who - (has to argue/is the devil's advocate/stirs things up)", reframing his information as oh, that's just him.
At another point the teacher stood in front of the class and stated, "well, even if you disagree with abortion you have to agree that it's better that this medical procedure be performed in a hospital", brooking no discussion, the students simply had to accept his point of view as the final word.
In another situation the teacher brought up a news story where a rich man got custody of his kids after being absent for four years, "now isn't that terrible? But it's because he's rich." When a different student tried to bring up a little more depth, explaining the facts of the case, it turned out the teacher didn't know the facts of the case but wasn't willing to have them explained -- instead he argued saying, "well, they always blame the woman" and cutting off the discussion entirely.
The class was a forum to promote liberal views, most of which I agree with, but it was inappropriate for a classroom setting and stifled the discussion. I was uncomfortable saying anything that might be construed as disagreeing with his point of view, because it was clear he would challenge it and hold it up to ridicule. I am normally an active participant in discussion, but I found myself sticking to safe ground and just reciting the plot of the books.
2) The rest of the discussion was on the plot of the books, rather than the issues raised within the books.
Typical discussion questions the teacher raised were close-ended (for example regarding Rubyfruit Jungle):
"What is the main character's name?"
Or very superficial:
"What do you think of the character Holly?"
The discussion that resulted was an uninformitive regurgitation of plot-points that were not particularly relevant to Intercultural studies. For a literature class, the discussion was at a high-school rather than college level. For a humanities class it wasn't relevant.
With the minimal participation that resulted, the teacher would finally state his own conclusions and the class would move on.
Do you see the cycle? The teacher would quash different points of view, then get limited participation, so he would 'dumb down' the level of the questions (I hope they were dumbed down...), which would be uninspiring and leave a vacuum. Then to fill the silence, he'd teach his point of view, which would raise an opposing point of view, which he would argue with and quash... and the cycle would continue.
- The teacher brought personal issues and irritations to the class
At one point he told the students that another student in another class was contesting a grade and that it was being currently discussed with the Dean. The discussion thereafter revolved around how stupid and egotistical this student was.
At various other points he told the class about his ongoing issue with someone in the copy room, and how he challenged his treatment and it was taken up with the man's boss.
At another point his struggles with corruption within a particular program at the UW were aired.
Near the end of class he discussed his concerns about the students "ganging up on" him and effecting his job for the worse.
This was unprofessional. It put me in a position of having to agree with him (or stay silent) without knowing all the facts. There was an implication that we, as a class, should never challenge his grades or challenge him. I checked it with another professor in another school, and they were surprised it was brought up in class. It was explained to me that every professor has their grades challenged from time to time.
- The syllabus did not have due dates for assignments, and students were confused as to when assignments were due.
- The teacher said he would review drafts, but then he didn't return the drafts, and used those instead for the final grade.
- Assignments were not returned until the students asked for them towards the end of the semester.
- Instead of a textbook, the books we used as a basis of discussion were two short novels. They were very out of date as pertaining to the subject.
Steinbeck's The Pearl dealt with colonialism, circa 1950, written by an American (obviously). Colonialism has an historical impact, but this was used as our main text for the first half of the semester. It was presented as a general discussion on racial and class distinctions. We did not move beyond this era with regards to foreign cultures until some students presented group presentations at the end of the semester.
Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle dealt with sexuality, class, and gender issues, U.S.-centric, circa 1972. We discussed the plot-points in the book, generalizations concerning gender and conflict, but did not move on to modern situations, or other cultures.
Both are U.S.-centric in a class that is normally about international cultures. A third piece we did not complete, but it was also U.S.-centric.
- Outside of the group projects in the final two weeks, we did not discuss foreign cultures at all, with the exception of the teacher describing his experiences in Italy.
- Globalization, a core issue of intercultural studies now, was only mentioned once at the end of the semester in a 20-minute discussion where the students generated a list of what's affected by Globalization. The teacher said, "okay, so you know what globalization is."
My understanding from Intercultural Communication: A Reader by Larry Samovar & Richard E. Porter, is that the point of studying Intercultural Communication is to be able to see from other points of view. Then when misunderstandings arise, there is some basis to figure out the different cultural assumptions. Intercultural Communication is also taught by another teacher at this college, and I was in his class for one week (and scheduling conflicts forced a change of class-times). I learned more in that week than I did in the entire semester here.
His syllabus states: "Intercultural communication occurs when people from one culture interact with people from another culture. This course provides and interdiscilinary focus on the values, patterns, history, and attitudes that create and sustain culture. We will emphasize skills and empathy in intercultural communication gained from the study of diverse cultures. Our exploration will incorporate lectures, group discussion, literature, theory, guest speakers, and films."
What diverse cultures? We haven't discussed them outside of the group presentations (and I don't trust a bunch of kids scoping for info on the internet).
There have been no guest speakers or films, there has been no "interdisciplinary" focus unless that means "we will read two short novels as our sole text," there has been no timeline or history (just a few historical figures discussed without much context), we have not been given "patterns," and the attitudes we've learned are his political views. But based on his syllabus, aside from the vague due dates, I had every reason to expect more from this class.
The syllabus goes on to say: "I have made every effort to limit the financial burden on students in the number and cost of required books. This does not mean the dept of the course will be lessened."
As a Tibetan Lama of mine used to say, "He's foolishing himself."
I feel terrible. I'm going in circles about this. I'm irritated and I know it, so I don't want to act on that nasty motivation. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is just as bad as doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. I also feel for him. I don't want to see him lose his job, and I think he senses he's in trouble.
But he hasn't done what he said he'd do, and he hasn't done a good job.
The distraction is not LJ, but a tough decision.
I have a class called Intercultural Communication. There have been a lot of problems throughout the year.
I feel I've learned almost nothing in this class.
- We did not use a textbook.
- We discussed but were not provided specific definitions for terms, yet the final test required definitions.
- The class was split between lecture and discussion, with the emphasis on discussion, but the discussion had two problems:
1) It revolved primarily around the teacher's political views and opposing views to the teacher's were belittled.
For example, one student with conservative views was called by the teacher, "well now he's the sort who - (has to argue/is the devil's advocate/stirs things up)", reframing his information as oh, that's just him.
At another point the teacher stood in front of the class and stated, "well, even if you disagree with abortion you have to agree that it's better that this medical procedure be performed in a hospital", brooking no discussion, the students simply had to accept his point of view as the final word.
In another situation the teacher brought up a news story where a rich man got custody of his kids after being absent for four years, "now isn't that terrible? But it's because he's rich." When a different student tried to bring up a little more depth, explaining the facts of the case, it turned out the teacher didn't know the facts of the case but wasn't willing to have them explained -- instead he argued saying, "well, they always blame the woman" and cutting off the discussion entirely.
The class was a forum to promote liberal views, most of which I agree with, but it was inappropriate for a classroom setting and stifled the discussion. I was uncomfortable saying anything that might be construed as disagreeing with his point of view, because it was clear he would challenge it and hold it up to ridicule. I am normally an active participant in discussion, but I found myself sticking to safe ground and just reciting the plot of the books.
2) The rest of the discussion was on the plot of the books, rather than the issues raised within the books.
Typical discussion questions the teacher raised were close-ended (for example regarding Rubyfruit Jungle):
"What is the main character's name?"
Or very superficial:
"What do you think of the character Holly?"
The discussion that resulted was an uninformitive regurgitation of plot-points that were not particularly relevant to Intercultural studies. For a literature class, the discussion was at a high-school rather than college level. For a humanities class it wasn't relevant.
With the minimal participation that resulted, the teacher would finally state his own conclusions and the class would move on.
Do you see the cycle? The teacher would quash different points of view, then get limited participation, so he would 'dumb down' the level of the questions (I hope they were dumbed down...), which would be uninspiring and leave a vacuum. Then to fill the silence, he'd teach his point of view, which would raise an opposing point of view, which he would argue with and quash... and the cycle would continue.
- The teacher brought personal issues and irritations to the class
At one point he told the students that another student in another class was contesting a grade and that it was being currently discussed with the Dean. The discussion thereafter revolved around how stupid and egotistical this student was.
At various other points he told the class about his ongoing issue with someone in the copy room, and how he challenged his treatment and it was taken up with the man's boss.
At another point his struggles with corruption within a particular program at the UW were aired.
Near the end of class he discussed his concerns about the students "ganging up on" him and effecting his job for the worse.
This was unprofessional. It put me in a position of having to agree with him (or stay silent) without knowing all the facts. There was an implication that we, as a class, should never challenge his grades or challenge him. I checked it with another professor in another school, and they were surprised it was brought up in class. It was explained to me that every professor has their grades challenged from time to time.
- The syllabus did not have due dates for assignments, and students were confused as to when assignments were due.
- The teacher said he would review drafts, but then he didn't return the drafts, and used those instead for the final grade.
- Assignments were not returned until the students asked for them towards the end of the semester.
- Instead of a textbook, the books we used as a basis of discussion were two short novels. They were very out of date as pertaining to the subject.
Steinbeck's The Pearl dealt with colonialism, circa 1950, written by an American (obviously). Colonialism has an historical impact, but this was used as our main text for the first half of the semester. It was presented as a general discussion on racial and class distinctions. We did not move beyond this era with regards to foreign cultures until some students presented group presentations at the end of the semester.
Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle dealt with sexuality, class, and gender issues, U.S.-centric, circa 1972. We discussed the plot-points in the book, generalizations concerning gender and conflict, but did not move on to modern situations, or other cultures.
Both are U.S.-centric in a class that is normally about international cultures. A third piece we did not complete, but it was also U.S.-centric.
- Outside of the group projects in the final two weeks, we did not discuss foreign cultures at all, with the exception of the teacher describing his experiences in Italy.
- Globalization, a core issue of intercultural studies now, was only mentioned once at the end of the semester in a 20-minute discussion where the students generated a list of what's affected by Globalization. The teacher said, "okay, so you know what globalization is."
My understanding from Intercultural Communication: A Reader by Larry Samovar & Richard E. Porter, is that the point of studying Intercultural Communication is to be able to see from other points of view. Then when misunderstandings arise, there is some basis to figure out the different cultural assumptions. Intercultural Communication is also taught by another teacher at this college, and I was in his class for one week (and scheduling conflicts forced a change of class-times). I learned more in that week than I did in the entire semester here.
His syllabus states: "Intercultural communication occurs when people from one culture interact with people from another culture. This course provides and interdiscilinary focus on the values, patterns, history, and attitudes that create and sustain culture. We will emphasize skills and empathy in intercultural communication gained from the study of diverse cultures. Our exploration will incorporate lectures, group discussion, literature, theory, guest speakers, and films."
What diverse cultures? We haven't discussed them outside of the group presentations (and I don't trust a bunch of kids scoping for info on the internet).
There have been no guest speakers or films, there has been no "interdisciplinary" focus unless that means "we will read two short novels as our sole text," there has been no timeline or history (just a few historical figures discussed without much context), we have not been given "patterns," and the attitudes we've learned are his political views. But based on his syllabus, aside from the vague due dates, I had every reason to expect more from this class.
The syllabus goes on to say: "I have made every effort to limit the financial burden on students in the number and cost of required books. This does not mean the dept of the course will be lessened."
As a Tibetan Lama of mine used to say, "He's foolishing himself."
I feel terrible. I'm going in circles about this. I'm irritated and I know it, so I don't want to act on that nasty motivation. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is just as bad as doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. I also feel for him. I don't want to see him lose his job, and I think he senses he's in trouble.
But he hasn't done what he said he'd do, and he hasn't done a good job.
no subject
I'm going to assume you took notes during class so you have a fairly decent record of what went on roughly when.
I absolutely would go to the department chair to discuss this. Even barring all the immense inappropriateness of quashing opposing viewpoints (in any class; in one aimed at looking at them, good god), I think it's entirely fair to go in and say, look, here is what I expected to see, and here is what I saw, and here is my life experience on which I was basing my assumptions, and I'm not sure what to think about that. Worst case, they shoo you aside and say this is how he chose to teach it, and you shrug and go away.
And as to doing a bad job--well, if he doesn't get nailed for it now, one of two things happens. He'll get nailed for it later (in which case, what does it matter if it's you that goes over his head), or he won't and he'll keep teaching this way, having received no corrective feedback in the matter, and the next 30 years of students will have to tolerate it, too. I don't see that as a significantly better outcome for anyone, really.
?
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You and the rest of the class did not get the class you paid for and the dean should be aware of this. You deserve your money back or the chance to take the class with again competent teacher.
Sorry if I got ranty but teachers not doing their jobs gets to me bigtime.
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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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Do what your gut tells you to...
If you can't, make a formal complaint. Go through the channels and spread word of mouth that this is a bad class to take. The formal stuff will make sure there is a record of things, the word-of-mouth will make sure others don't waste their cash and time in his class. Eventually the institution will notice, cancel his classes, and he will have to make changes or suffer the consequences.
I know, severe, but not petty at all. I bet you are not the only one who feels this way.
Don't even get me started on this unethical behaviour at discussing non-class things like other students grades (whether he mentions the name or not, it's not apropos.)
And as for him losing his job, it's not your responsibility to worry about it. It's his. He provides a service you paid for, and he's not delivering what he should. What would you do if you bought a car that the engine kept failing on you?
Ok, I'm going to step off my soapbox. I had my fair amount of profs. like this is college, and early on I decided not to suffer them. You shouldn't either.
No, he hasn't done a good job.
Re: Do what your gut tells you to...
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Nothing can be done until someone in authority knows there's a problem. It sucks to have to be the person raising the issue though. *pets*
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Who are you out to save?
If you want to save yourself, forget about it. You've already done more practical intercultural communication than he ever will. What did you think you'd learn? Or were you just planning to show off your intercultural expertise? You wasted you time - shed a few tears and drive on.
If you want to save him, stop letting him bash his brains against a wall - this is obviously not what his candle burns for. Don't be an enabler.
Re: Who are you out to save?
Re: Who are you out to save?
Re: Who are you out to save?
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He has undoubtedly done a disservice to the students, but he has committed a more serious infraction (to my mind) in that he has done a disservice to the truth. Half of the idea behind the academic institution is the dissemination of the most accurate and up to date peer-reviewed research -- in other words, the truth as we know it in this moment -- to students and the academic public. By not following through on a rigorous syllabus meeting the objectives as described for that course, he is, in essence, lying to you by omission. If he cannot do his best (or at the very least meet some minimum standard) then he is a danger to the integrity of the institution and has no business teaching there at all.
You may fear doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, but both these reasons stand valid outside of any personal considerations. The decision remains whether or not you're willing to cast your lot with them.
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If you're concerned about wording it well, so you can document times more accurately and so it doesn't sound like a grudge, you may want to write up your letter ahead of time, type it out, and slip it into the folder with evaluations.
[Assuming your school does like mine where the professor leaves the room during evaluations and a student hands it in so it can't be tampered with. If your professor will be in the room, you may not want him/her to see you turning in a printed page -- might get the wrong idea. But you can still give it to the department head separately, particularly if you do want to use it to lobby for a free replacement class or other compensation.]
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Cut for those who have absolutely no interest in reading about the second-worst class I've ever had.
Second-worst? The mind boggles.
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...
Near the end of class he discussed his concerns about the students "ganging up on" him and effecting his job for the worse.
Unlike other people, I'd say that these are definitely things that should be mentioned to the department head. Bringing up personal conflicts like that during class: doubleplusungood, especially ones that, like these, could be a way of intimidating (first one) or guilt-tripping (second one) students out of confronting him about their issues with his class.
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i agree with everyone else, be completely honest on the evaluation and hope for the future classes... who knows, maybe he'll meet his match in the next few years...
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*snickers*