My professor has a very strict set of rules for writing exams. There is a clock that is displayed on the projector: the left side counts up (elapsed time) and the right side counts down (time remaining). When the time expires, a Windows Alert event occurs, and says "Time's up!" accompanied by the default alert sound.
At this point, my professor says "Stop writing please" twice. After the second time, if you continue to write, he (or one of the three TA's) will write a red "X" on your exam- it will not be marked. This policy was explained in -depth in a previous class.
So, my prof says "Stop writing please" once. I drop my pencil like it's on fire. There's no way I'm risking even looking like I'm writing for a 22% midterm. I see one guy, one row over to my right, frantically filling in a bubble on the Scantron. "Stop writing please." Time is most definitely over.
This guy looks to the left. <_<
Looks to the right. As if he is about to cross the road. >_>
Looks at the TA. The TA slowly turns his head away from where this guy is sitting.
O_O A window of opportunity! He pretends that he is lazily playing with his pencil, when in fact he is filling in his last bubble!
The TA snaps his head back. A clever trap! The head-fake is successful. The TA briskly walks over, scribbles a red "X" on his exam, and no words are exchanged. The examination is being handed in, but not marked. X_X
I feel bad for the guy. Not because he got a zero, but because he didn't have the judgment to be able to make the right decision.
Meh, I never liked timed exams of any kind. Some of my friends could get a 100% on every single test if they had enough time to work on it. Your Professor's system seems pretty ridiculous though. A 0 just for filling in one bubble after time is up on a 22% exam? Idk, most teachers/professors I know would simply take the paper away or mark off a few points.
I really don't see how a "trap" like this is going to further the goal of educating this student.
Will he have learned any more as a result of this? Will he understand the material better? Will any one in the class understand it better as a result of this?
I suppose the logic of this is that it needs to be 100% fair for every one! Nobody should get an extra two seconds!
It seems to me that this kind of thing is just... backwards.
What a complete asshat. If he had done that on any of the places I've studied at he would have been fired in an instant. Wanting to finish something you've really worked hard for to show ambition to get the absolute most out of your work, is not something that should be punished for. There is no line of work were you will ask to not round something up or take time to finish it, none. You're not going to leave work the moment the clock hits 5 if you are in the middle of a meeting. You don't see articles in papers that just end mid word. It doesn't happen.
This guy is a bully and c**t, he actually wants people to fail, he sets up traps for people to fail so that he can bully them some more. As a teacher you want your students to succed ALWAYS, you never ever want them to fail. If you have a system where you end it on a specific time without letting your students round of their awnsers then you are the problem. The fact that you can fail someone for trying his best is beyond me.
The only bad judgement in this thread is yours for thinking that the professor had any right to act the way he did, and the schools for letting the bastard keep his job.
On March 05 2011 08:56 Kyuukyuu wrote: I have always wanted to do this (what the TA did).
Also, schadenfreude :\ I guess I'm just a stickler for rules like that.
Schadenfreude? :D I never knew about that one. I mean, the American language has borrowed some words from the german language (angst, mensch, kindergarden) but that made me laugh
On March 05 2011 09:17 Hynda wrote: What a complete asshat. If he had done that on any of the places I've studied at he would have been fired in an instant. Wanting to finish something you've really worked hard for to show ambition to get the absolute most out of your work, is not something that should be punished for. There is no line of work were you will ask to not round something up or take time to finish it, none. You're not going to leave work the moment the clock hits 5 if you are in the middle of a meeting. You don't see articles in papers that just end mid word. It doesn't happen.
This guy is a bully and c**t, he actually wants people to fail, he sets up traps for people to fail so that he can bully them some more. As a teacher you want your students to succed ALWAYS, you never ever want them to fail. If you have a system where you end it on a specific time without letting your students round of their awnsers then you are the problem. The fact that you can fail someone for trying his best is beyond me.
The only bad judgement in this thread is yours for thinking that the professor had any right to act the way he did, and the schools for letting the bastard keep his job.
The bad judgment is definitely the student's. If your prof was this strict, would you consider cheating? I'm not agreeing that the prof is right, but that's out of my hands. These are his rules. You play by them. I'm not about to contest that. The "right" decision doesn't refer to anything moral, it was just definitely the wrong decision to continue writing. This is the second test in this class and he was just as strict on the first. The rules were extremely clear. The prof even explained his method of testing for about twenty minutes in a previous lecture.
Rules are rules. If a student has a problem with the rule, he should bring it up with the professor before the exam, not after the fact. I wouldn't consider it a trap because he specifically went over his policy in a previous class like you said. I really respect the prof/TA for sticking to his guns, whereas in my experience most profs/TAs are pathetically easy for students to walk over, and they take advantage of that.
On March 05 2011 09:17 Hynda wrote: What a complete asshat. If he had done that on any of the places I've studied at he would have been fired in an instant. Wanting to finish something you've really worked hard for to show ambition to get the absolute most out of your work, is not something that should be punished for. There is no line of work were you will ask to not round something up or take time to finish it, none. You're not going to leave work the moment the clock hits 5 if you are in the middle of a meeting. You don't see articles in papers that just end mid word. It doesn't happen.
This guy is a bully and c**t, he actually wants people to fail, he sets up traps for people to fail so that he can bully them some more. As a teacher you want your students to succed ALWAYS, you never ever want them to fail. If you have a system where you end it on a specific time without letting your students round of their awnsers then you are the problem. The fact that you can fail someone for trying his best is beyond me.
The only bad judgement in this thread is yours for thinking that the professor had any right to act the way he did, and the schools for letting the bastard keep his job.
The bad judgment is definitely the student's. If your prof was this strict, would you consider cheating? I'm not agreeing that the prof is right, but that's out of my hands. These are his rules. You play by them. I'm not about to contest that. The "right" decision doesn't refer to anything moral, it was just definitely the wrong decision to continue writing. This is the second test in this class and he was just as strict on the first. The rules were extremely clear. The prof even explained his method of testing for about twenty minutes in a previous lecture.
It's not cheating, its rounding of your awnsers there is a whole world of difference. The fact that this professor abuses his powers is what's wrong. Just accepting it as a bad call from the students furthers this atrocious behaviour from the teacher.
It's not acceptable behaviour as a teacher. If I told I would punch you if you said the word "Dung" then it's still my fault if I punch you, because there was no reason.
Perhaps it's cultural diffrences but what level of education is this? It at least sounds like you're not kids anymore and he shouldn't be able to carry on like this. If he a 20 minute lecture on explaining a unfair, unreasonable and power abusing system then at least in any class I've been it would have been instantly contested. There is no reason other than power abuse for him to act the way he does, and the sad part is that it seems the students don't know their own power.
Rules are rules. If a student has a problem with the rule, he should bring it up with the professor before the exam, not after the fact. I wouldn't consider it a trap because he specifically went over his policy in a previous class like you said. I really respect the prof/TA for sticking to his guns, whereas in my experience most profs/TAs are pathetically easy for students to walk over, and they take advantage of that.
This is peoples futures. Setting up arbitrary rules that has no effect other than failing people that try hard to show of what they've learnt is malicious bullshit. It goes against every fiber of what a teacher should be doing providing nothing but a oppertunity to bully.
What if he had said "you can't use the word "and" " or the letter "S" for that matter. would it have been "Rules are rules" then? And yes asking someone to stop writing mid sentence is just as unreasonable as the above mentioned suggestion, it can make or break an entire essay if you're not allowed to round up.
Of course the student should have erred on the side of caution.
However, it's pretty clear that the professors primary goal is not to educate, but to power trip. The only thing this kid learned was "wow, this professor is pretty fucking strict."
Is the subject of this class how strict the professor is? This seems like a shallow avenue for intellectual investigation.
Perhaps education is a secondary goal for this professor.
What does this kind of practice have to do with actually learning course material?
When I was in school I almost ALWAYS finished exams first or second, and often with very high scores. I was uniquely good at taking tests and i took advantage of that. However, I didn't always 'actually' understand the material, I just understood how to take tests really well.
This policy rewards people like me when we already have the advantage.
I was done twenty minutes ago, I couldn't care less if this kid gets an extra ten seconds to bubble in his answer.
I was a TA for introductory History course and my prof had this rule where if any student was seen with a cell phone during an exam, he'd fail them. I thought the rule was a bit harsh and there was one situation where I made direct eye contact with a young man checking a text. I didn't walk over and fail him, though I probably should have.
On March 05 2011 09:17 Hynda wrote: What a complete asshat. If he had done that on any of the places I've studied at he would have been fired in an instant. Wanting to finish something you've really worked hard for to show ambition to get the absolute most out of your work, is not something that should be punished for. There is no line of work were you will ask to not round something up or take time to finish it, none. You're not going to leave work the moment the clock hits 5 if you are in the middle of a meeting. You don't see articles in papers that just end mid word. It doesn't happen.
This guy is a bully and c**t, he actually wants people to fail, he sets up traps for people to fail so that he can bully them some more. As a teacher you want your students to succed ALWAYS, you never ever want them to fail. If you have a system where you end it on a specific time without letting your students round of their awnsers then you are the problem. The fact that you can fail someone for trying his best is beyond me.
The only bad judgement in this thread is yours for thinking that the professor had any right to act the way he did, and the schools for letting the bastard keep his job.
The bad judgment is definitely the student's. If your prof was this strict, would you consider cheating? I'm not agreeing that the prof is right, but that's out of my hands. These are his rules. You play by them. I'm not about to contest that. The "right" decision doesn't refer to anything moral, it was just definitely the wrong decision to continue writing. This is the second test in this class and he was just as strict on the first. The rules were extremely clear. The prof even explained his method of testing for about twenty minutes in a previous lecture.
It's not cheating, its rounding of your awnsers there is a whole world of difference. The fact that this professor abuses his powers is what's wrong. Just accepting it as a bad call from the students furthers this atrocious behaviour from the teacher.
It's not acceptable behaviour as a teacher. If I told I would punch you if you said the word "Dung" then it's still my fault if I punch you, because there was no reason.
Perhaps it's cultural diffrences but what level of education is this? It at least sounds like you're not kids anymore and he shouldn't be able to carry on like this. If he a 20 minute lecture on explaining a unfair, unreasonable and power abusing system then at least in any class I've been it would have been instantly contested. There is no reason other than power abuse for him to act the way he does, and the sad part is that it seems the students don't know their own power.
Rules are rules. If a student has a problem with the rule, he should bring it up with the professor before the exam, not after the fact. I wouldn't consider it a trap because he specifically went over his policy in a previous class like you said. I really respect the prof/TA for sticking to his guns, whereas in my experience most profs/TAs are pathetically easy for students to walk over, and they take advantage of that.
This is peoples futures setting up arbitrary rules that has no effect other than failing people that try hard to show of what they've learnt. It goes against every fiber of what a teacher should be doing providing nothing but a oppertunity to bully.
What if he had said "you can't use the word "and" " or the letter "S" for that matter. would it have been "Rules are rules" then?
No, in that case the student should approach the professor and discuss the rules with him before taking the exam. The student in this case clearly understood and accepted the rules, and tried to circumvent them, also commonly known as cheating. He should count himself lucky that he wasn't reported to student conduct or academic integrity instead of just failing that one test.
On March 05 2011 09:17 Hynda wrote: This guy is a bully and c**t, he actually wants people to fail, he sets up traps for people to fail so that he can bully them some more. As a teacher you want your students to succed ALWAYS, you never ever want them to fail. If you have a system where you end it on a specific time without letting your students round of their awnsers then you are the problem. The fact that you can fail someone for trying his best is beyond me.
You are aware that the prof and the TA are two different people, right?
There are strict professors and there are kind professors. As you say, we're not kids anymore, which means you should be able to follow the set of rules a professor lays out for you, no questions asked.
If I told I would punch you if you said the word "Dung" then it's still my fault if I punch you, because there was no reason.
What if he had said "you can't use the word "and" " or the letter "S" for that matter. would it have been "Rules are rules" then?
The first example is illegal, while the rules the professor set up is not.
In your second example, if the professor tells you you can't use those words or letters, you don't. Now, I'm not going to say the professor is "right", because in reality that is really strict. But also in reality, you need to learn how to follow rules. If, in the future, your boss tells you to do something specific, you do it, no questions asked. This is preparation for that.
The Professor is partly at fault for being strict, yes, but the student is even more at fault for having been warned beforehand and not following instructions. If you are given a specific deadline, obey it, and don't think anyone is going to think twice about extending it just for you.
EPT
It's too bad he got caught.
