EPTRecently I've been taking classes in college that have just not gone my way. I decided I would try some more difficult schedules out, just to test myself. I'm kind of glad in a way that I didn't join a fraternity, because with the schedule I had, doing so would have been suicide. I took a 300 Spanish for majors (even though I only wanted to minor, but not anymore), and then two 200's for my perspective major (these shouldn't have been as hard as they are), and then a chemistry intro class along with two 1 credit extra classes and a chemistry lab that is required.
My schedule ended up being bullshit. It was too much. I've had to drop the 300 Spanish because I realize its not for me. Though I'm very confused as to how I took the same class in Argentina, got B's and B+'s (I was hoping to move to an A at some point while taking it here), but then suddenly started failing in America. When I looked at the feedback I was getting on my essays, it was garbled. It made no sense. It seemed, intentionally or unintentionally, there to only have the appearance of giving feedback. The same issue has repeated itself in one of my philosophy classes. I can deal with this though. The biggest confusion though, by far is my chemistry class.
To be clear, my Chemistry class is a 120 class. It's just an intro. It's not all that hard by any means. It's not Orgo, and I'm not intending on doing anything big into chemistry unless I have a change of heart and want to go pre-med really, really badly. Yet, this class has given me the most conscience confusing run of them all. The teacher is a gifted lecturer. His ability to create a rapport among the students, while not the best I've ever seen, is quite good. His comfort at the head of a class, making jokes to ease the class, being prepared, and all the other mandatory pieces of being a good teacher are all present. Somehow, despite all of this, he still presents to me the greatest philosophical problem I have ever faced in a teacher.
On the one hand when I began taking his class I had received a warning from a senior chemistry major who is a friend of mine. He told me that the man hadn't had a male work-study, student fellow, or student researcher in years since either receiving tenure or some other important event (I think about 10 semesters is what I was told, IIRC). He warned me that the experiences of female students and male students were very different in the class. I was incredulous of what he said at first. Now, I just don't know what to think.
I've met with this teacher no less than 3 times before the first half of the semester was up, 2 times in the middle of the first quarter, once before. He was absolutely inattentive, and just generally was no help each and every time. He mentioned to me how he had helped a female student extraordinarily in one of the sessions, but when I asked right away for some kind of help along those lines he simply shrugged his head and gave an extended version of "No, sorry." That sucks, but I can't expect special treatment by any means, I understand that. When I went in with practice exam questions, and he outright did not answer any of my questions or show me where I was going wrong, I was more frustrated. What frustrated me the most was, though, the way he refused to build any kind of a connection. I was courteous to a fault, showed that I was trying to do my absolute best in the class, and he remained cold, which felt so unlike the him I see in his class.
In class he normally answers girls' questions more. Granted there are more girls, but he has skipped over answering hands by male students in favor of female students. I don't mean he won't call on the boys, I mean he will give a short, terse answer to the male students that doesn't necessarily answer the question, and for the female students he will answer their questions at length if need be. I grew exceedingly more confused at this as this continued to happen class after class. Though in the most recent class this did not happen, that class was the first one of its kind where the answers to male students weren't as marked by their brevity as they were in previous classes.
I talked with a female chemistry major, an A student, who had taken the man's class in order to get a better perspective on things. The story she told me was worlds different than the male chemistry student, despite both being top level students. She mirrored the difficulty, but made no mention of any perceived lack in answering questions and said that the teacher was really good at helping students with problems. I was even more confused after that.
I talked with my advisor yesterday and he said the story I was telling him was cause for alarm. He said, more ambitiously I guess, that if I don't act now when I have little to lose as a student, will I act when I have a job to lose and a family to feed? I don't know what to do. I can't tell if the teacher is sexist like all the rumors about him, at least that I've heard, say. I can't tell if this is just a disconnect between teacher and student, or if it is something much more insidious. I'm really confused how I feel about the class, and I'm even more unsure if just taking the B in the class is all I should do despite doing all I can to get an A and seemingly not getting the same help as other students.
