Ethical Quandary and Distraction
Jun. 8th, 2004 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusI'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.
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Do what your gut tells you to...
Date: 2004-06-08 01:49 pm (UTC)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...
Date: 2004-06-08 10:25 pm (UTC)I bet you are not the only one who feels this way.
I am not the only one who didn't have their homework returned until the end of quarter, and I think his plea to the class was indication enough that he senses the students are ready to pounce. But it's likely that those who were there for the plea were affected by it. Still... one voice... and there are others who are pretty tough.
Icarus