Rats can sense these things...

People seem to be flinging themselves from the sinking ship that is intermediate Latin at an alarming rate. I ran into a student in the union building today and mentioned I hadn't seen him in class since the first exam, to which he replied that he'd dropped the subject after the exam. I said, "Oh... so it shows as 'discontinued' on your academic transcript?" He said, "No, it shows as a 'fail' because I pulled out too late... but I couldn't hack it any more." So now it's three people who were willing to blot their academic record just to get away from this one teacher.

I'm really not sure what I should do about this. The thing is, I don't have any grounds for complaint, apart from the fact that I think she takes things a little too fast, but I'm so worried about this situation. Also, given that I spoke to the teacher about things I feel slightly uneasy about going over her head to complain - particularly if I can't do it anonymously. I suppose there's no reason why I couldn't ask for my name to be withheld from the teacher. Oh dear, this is not what I need right now. I have four exams and one essay due in the next two weeks and I need to concentrate - but on the other hand I don't want to leave this unresolved until next semester. Well, perhaps it won't be resolved to my satisfaction but I need to be heard, at least.

Update:
I did go to see the School Manager to voice my concerns. She was quite helpful and surprisingly candid about the problems they've had with my teacher. She wasn't entirely aware of the post-census date dropouts and seemed a little alarmed about them. I told her I was considering post-grad study but wouldn't be comfortable doing it at this university with the way things stand. She said they'd be addressing the issue, using the feedback they've received and also the feedback from the online evaluations. It sounded like she actually meant it so I don't think it was a fob-off to get me out of her office. I suppose now I just have to wait and see what happens next semester. I really hope that the solution they choose is to take my teacher off language teaching. I don't think that's what they'll do but it would be lovely.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i guess if the right thing to do was easy, everyone would do it... i'm praying for you and your decision... made in faith and trusting in God's sovereignty, how can it be the wrong decision?

Femina said...

Actually I'm more afraid that it's the right decision but will still have bad consequences. I feel quite sure this teacher will hold it against me forever if she knows I've complained about her.

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