This is very interesting – very. Maybe amazing.
Confessions of a Grade-Inflating Professor – Oliver Lee Bateman – The Atlantic.
Here is what I think about this person who writes that ” …students pay approximately $50 per class to watch my lectures…In an unfair system that requires students to bear the costs of their education, it makes no sense to impose harsh grading standards and other obstacles that prevent them from graduating…”
Excuse me, since when is giving an easy A equivalent to giving a good education? Anyway, here is what I wrote.
“As a former professor myself, I think that The Atlantic is doing us a service by letting us peak into the beliefs of many of today’s professors. This guy believes this stuff. That makes him very dangerous.
Just look. This is all taken from rate my professor.
“…[he] has a way of testing that which you will find VERY easy to complete .Mostly Painless way to take history…”
“…He hates busy work and grading / feedback but is a big hand holder and esteem booster so everyone’s a winner with him…”
“…There is so much extra credit that it is hard not to make a good grade…”
“…during his lectures he reads out the most important passages from our readings that WILL BE ON THE TEST, so you practically don’t have to read at all…”
“…Students sleep even during the good lectures and he finds it funny and does not look down his nose at you…”
“…class is way too easy. After talking to him I thought the class would be hard and that he would have tough standards. He motivated me to study hard for the first exam expecting a challenge and then I got a high grade and did not care as much….”
“…Very simple class…”
“…Very easy A or B in a high level class….”
“…I had Professor Bateman for Legal History. Possibly the easiest course you could take at UTA. He seems all business but is in fact slack and easygoing…”
“…his tests are idiot-proof and his reviews amake it totlly clear what’s on exam…”
This man is dangerous. He will get great reviews and help his school get a higher graduation rate and make his administrators happy. He will drive out professors who want to educate students and prepare them for a future.
I do not know him personally but, I worry that he is representative of a group of professors that have been around for at least thirty years, professors who think they are educating their students while they are just pleasing their uneducated “customers”.
Many of these professors get there as part of a system, where universities accept money to generate “American” scholars. I don’t know if this gentleman is one, or, if U. of Pitt. does this, but I know “elite” schools where this goes on. You can read on my blog about what happens when these people graduate.”
“Peek” not “peak”