A legendary organic chemistry professor was fired at NYU because his students were struggling with the material. Here’s what it says about the state of America’s “meritocracy.”
This is a terrible concept although I am not convinced how a prospective Doc functions and his competence is in any way related to how she/he did in Organic.
As a retired physician, graduating from Michigan Medical School in 1976 I must admit I have mixed feelings about this. I met the sister of my organic chemistry prof who said he told her it brought him great joy to see prospective medical students struggle and that also is not right.
Great balanced story, and it sounds like this Professor really cares about his students. I agree his firing is clearly unjust and another example of the worrisome trend of students, parents or the public pressuring schools and teachers to change their teaching methods and in this case lower standards. Teachers should be allowed to teach. They are the content experts, and many of them devote their lives to doing their best for their students. What happened to this Professor is shameful.
Unfortunately the student as consumer is part and parcel of the corporate university, and a elite institution like NYU reflects the political economy of privilege at work in contemporary America—hopefully it is still the exception and not becoming the rule in advanced capitalism.
The dumbing down of American education has been going on for decades. And now politicians want to throw out the baby with the bath water, preferring to send out tax dollars to for-profit charter schools instead of investing in the public educational institutions that made America great. Exemplary teachers are a thing of the past, schools treasuring the 'easy pass' for students performing below par. It's the reason I changed my major from education to environmental management. At least I could make a difference there. Now, in retirement, I'm teaching Tai Chi to senior citizens because they want to feel better. I do too.
Universities do not value teaching. The professors that publish and are media darlings are always protected. US education is a mess from top to bottom. We need good teachers and we need classes that actually help students learn. The idea of a weeding class should be thrown out. All classes should be ones that help students to learn.
Organic Chemistry Light? Really?
This is a terrible concept although I am not convinced how a prospective Doc functions and his competence is in any way related to how she/he did in Organic.
As a retired physician, graduating from Michigan Medical School in 1976 I must admit I have mixed feelings about this. I met the sister of my organic chemistry prof who said he told her it brought him great joy to see prospective medical students struggle and that also is not right.
Great balanced story, and it sounds like this Professor really cares about his students. I agree his firing is clearly unjust and another example of the worrisome trend of students, parents or the public pressuring schools and teachers to change their teaching methods and in this case lower standards. Teachers should be allowed to teach. They are the content experts, and many of them devote their lives to doing their best for their students. What happened to this Professor is shameful.
Unfortunately the student as consumer is part and parcel of the corporate university, and a elite institution like NYU reflects the political economy of privilege at work in contemporary America—hopefully it is still the exception and not becoming the rule in advanced capitalism.
Not only pass the course, but also stop smoking the smelly weed. I want a knowledgeable and clear headed physician servicing me.
The dumbing down of American education has been going on for decades. And now politicians want to throw out the baby with the bath water, preferring to send out tax dollars to for-profit charter schools instead of investing in the public educational institutions that made America great. Exemplary teachers are a thing of the past, schools treasuring the 'easy pass' for students performing below par. It's the reason I changed my major from education to environmental management. At least I could make a difference there. Now, in retirement, I'm teaching Tai Chi to senior citizens because they want to feel better. I do too.
Universities do not value teaching. The professors that publish and are media darlings are always protected. US education is a mess from top to bottom. We need good teachers and we need classes that actually help students learn. The idea of a weeding class should be thrown out. All classes should be ones that help students to learn.