June 18, 2024

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  • The Exasperated Professor Asks…

    If one were in a class, and on the syllabus the professor omitted the chapter number for a particular day's worth of lectures, but had the lecture title down as "Congress" and the course was American National Government, do you think one could figure out what chapter one was supposed to read (especially when one has a single text book for the class)?

    An exasperated Professor wants to know.

    Posted by Steven Taylor at June 18, 2024 07:54 AM | TrackBack

    Comments

    No. Obviously, this is a test to see if students will read chapters not assigned by the professor, who will penalize students for doing so. The safe thing is to come to class assuming the prof will either 1) cancel class because it's too pretty outside, 2) spoon feed them the material, skipping over anything that won't be on the test.

    Posted by: James Joyner at June 18, 2024 09:59 AM

    Makes you wish you were back, doesn't it?

    Posted by: Steven at June 18, 2024 10:16 AM

    No. Because I thought you didn't have to read ANY of the stuff on the syllabus -- listed or not listed.

    Posted by: John Lemon at June 18, 2024 10:52 AM

    Good point! ;)

    I always forget that the main reason I write syllabi is for my own entertainment!

    Posted by: Steven at June 18, 2024 10:55 AM

    No. For the administration's entertainment. Your syllabus is a quasi-legal document that can only be enforced against YOU, and not the students.

    On a serious note, I have my students sign a non-legally binding "Commitment to Learn" statement that lists a number of things I expect them to do -- attend class, complete assignments on time, etc. In case there are any complaints later, I show the offending student their signed statement and they usually say, "oh, yeah...I guess I wasn't working up to par."

    Posted by: John Lemon at June 18, 2024 12:02 PM

    A very few years ago, 1998 spring semester at East Carolina University, Dr. Singh assigned us a short paper to write on "The Good Life." In as much as it was never mentioned in the syllabus that the professor might actually hope to see some work from the students, many of my fellow students looked as close to a heart attack as I ever hope to see. Me, I wrote the paper, even though it was not a gradeable assignment. Course, I was interested in learning as opposed to whatever reason most of the others were there.

    Posted by: Leroy at June 18, 2024 02:51 PM

    Ok, I'm late the discussion. Speaking up for the slacker students (of which I suppose I must claim to have been one since I graduated with a 2.8 GPA - not because I'm dumb but because I didn't study much. I was too involved with student government activities and working), I had plenty of professors that listed books on the syllabus and yet never referenced them at all in an entire semester. Not once, not in class, not for a paper, not for an exam, never. So why on earth was I going to waste the money buying a book that wasn't necessary to successfully completing the class? I saved a ton of money in my last two years of college, because I knew which profs didn't actually use the textbooks that were listed on their syllabi.

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