10 Responses to “Professor yanked for … giving tough tests?”

1. Justin Says:
   May 25th, 2010 at 12:23 pm

   The first year, non-major, introductory level students at LSU, taking this Professor’s course, should feel shame. If they think daily quizzes, which are multiple choice, and no curved grades is too tall an order to fulfill, they should consider withdrawing from school altogether. An education requires trial and tribulation, burning the midnight oil, doing the work, and preparing adequately. Degree seeking students at an established research institution should expect to encounter courses that are “hard”.

   The bar this professor sets is not so high that it cannot be overcome. The term fairness in this article refers to what? One thing: the same opportunity to jump the hurdle. The bar, be it high or low is at the discretion of the Professor; especially, one with tenure. The student that overcomes high hurdles not only proves his character, but also his ability and the fairness of the exercise. No curved grades means one receives the grade that one earns.

   In law school, half the class had to make below a B. Only 2 or 3 “A”s could be given out because the school had a mandatory curve for certain classes. For every “A” the professor handed out, she had to hand out a “C”. The school had an enforced mean and median for course sizes with more than 8 students, which was almost every course. In this professors class, it is possible that every single student can make an “A”. How more fair can that get?

2. Lily Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 12:48 pm

   It is a sad day when Universities are run by fear of students. In my school
   we now have students telling us what classes we should be teaching for their
   pre-med program when in fact such classes are not required for medical school.These students
   complain that they do not want to be bothered with basic science and biology requirements for
   medical school. They think these classes are wasting their time. Now that Universities are just another
   for profit sector of society we must cater to the clients or they will go elsewhere. This is not education,
   this is the paper mill churning out those unable to think or reason, just more under educated people.

3. College Employee Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 12:49 pm

   This article leaves a lot to the imagination about what was going on in the class. While a teacher can demand rigor, rigor can get in the way of achieving learning outcomes, the ultimate goal and responsibility of both institution and student. Was the assessment in the class consistent with the course and program outcomes for the institution? Always be cautious of the academic freedom card. It is a freedom to pursue academic discourse without unreasonable interference, not a license to do whatever you want in the classroom. Adhering to institutional and professional best practices is not interference.

4. Ran Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 12:50 pm

   I had a Geology Professor who was a pretty tough grader. I received a grade of A in his class. The next highest grade was a C. After the course was over he pulled me a side and asked me if I thought his class was too tough? I replied, no. I read the book, attended class and took notes. I knew my other classmates were following a less rigorous regime for the class. It was an introductory class. They deserved the Cs, Ds and Fs. I deserved my A because I did everything right.

5. Mitch Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   This points to a larger issue. Our high schools are simply not preparing student’s for college. We admit students who cannot pass introductory biology classes. We either have to prepare them for college work or send them to community colleges. The problem is that our high schools are afraid to give student’s the grade they deserve, inflating their grades so they don’t have to deal with parent’s or the administrative and budgetary nightmare of making student’s repeat courses. Clearly there is a problem when most students are not passing the course. Are the professor’s standards too high? Is she being unfairly harsh? The answer only can be found by looking at her past testing and grade distributions. If her testing and grades have been consistent over the past years, than it’s the student’s and our system that should be indicted. If after 30 years she has become more rigorous, than perhaps she needs to re-look how she teaches. I am betting that it’s our students that are the problem.. I teach business and I never ceased to be amazed at my students lack of history knowledge and poor writing skills.

6. Teri Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 3:15 pm

   I have been teaching mathematics at a university for the last twenty years. I give quizzes, midterm and a final exam. I don’t curve as well because I want to be able to give everybody a A if they earn it. However, I noticed that students are getting worst over the years. They are so used to complain and demand to curve the class because they know that is one way to boost their grades since everybody is not “doing” well.
   One hand high schools are not preparing their graduates as well as they should be. On the other hand, all my test questions are exactly from the homework I assigned. The sad thing is that I did not even bother to change one number. If they still cannot do well or perform on their tests. BTW, I also went over some of the same homework problems in class. So, they still complain and want me to curve the class.
   No matter what, the good students will earn good gardes and the others will just keep complaining…

7. Desperate Measures Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 3:47 pm

   A larger issue here is that the professor was pulled from the course mid semester, and the students grades were changed. If the professor’s grading system was truly unfair (which I don’t think it was), then the administration should have devised a plan WITH her to finish out the term and for the students’ grades to reflect a more fair grading system. These actions set precedent for any student or group of students to push for a professor’s dismissal because they decided they don’t like the way they are being graded. That is ridiculous. Many professors take the opposite route, and give higher grades than the students earn. Unfortunately, I am one of them. Because if I didn’t, too many students would fail. Not because I lack teaching skills or I make the course or work too difficult. Students come in with minimal skills these days for even basic college courses. All of this is part of the dumbing down of America, and the complacency of far too many people who let this happen.

8. eilis_artis Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 4:59 pm

   Working in Higher Education for the last 25 years, I am constantly astonished by students and even graduates who cannot study, write or communicate effectively. Many students refuse to realize that the communication standards in the real world are not the same as in cyberspace. Spelling and proper grammar do count. Whatever career they choose, students will not only be judged by what they know but also hwo they communicate this knowledge. High standards in the classroom will require them to learn, to think and to achieve. God help us all if the next generation continues to take the easy way out.

9. Terri Says:
   May 26th, 2010 at 5:45 pm

   I am concerned about this – from both sides. First of all, did the teacher give quizzes where for each questions they had to select from 10 answers? That seems a bit excessive to me. But furthermore, I would sincerely hope the administration looked into this situation deeply by looking at the material, the quizzes, and her grading policy.

   I see no real problem in giving quizzes to keep students on top of the material. But many students often don’t know what to read for. One idea is to give students study questions to accompany a reading assignment. They don’t turn in the answers; they are to help the students learn the main points. Then give a short quiz in class.

   Also, I don’t think the quiz grades should be more than 30% of the grade. I like to use a variety of methods to create the final grade.

10. Sally Darnoi Says:
    May 26th, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    I have a feeling this article does not contain all the necessary fact to make a just and objective assessment of what is going on at Louisiana State University. Because if these are all the facts in the case then there is no integrity in any of the actions by any of the parties taking place at this university in this case. The veteran, tenured professor, Dominique Homberger, has an agenda of her own that seems to have little to do with educating her students. I don’t have a problem with her short, multiple choice quizzes or her objections to grading on the curve, but 10 multiple choices per question? And how are those multiple choices phrased? I’d wager some of those multiple choices are very close in meaning or deliberately phrased in such a way as to be misleading. Wading through them is probably like wading through a mine field. What does that have to do with measuring a student’s learning? And, if these are short quizzes, how long does she give the students to wade through all these multiple choices? She’s not just eliminating successful guessing, she’s eliminating any valid assessment of their academic understanding. And giving quizzes so students show up??? Give me a break; this has nothing to do with education, nor is showing up within the scope of her academic responsibility as a university professor. That’s the students’ responsibility. Plain and simple – the first day of class you make it plain to your students that whoever doesn’t show up the first ten minutes of the class gets marked absent. Amen. I have to believe the university has some kind of policy concerning the number of absences a student can have. As a tenured professor, it would be Ms Homberger’s responsibility to work within the parameters of the University’s policies. And where is the integrity of the University. You want to tell me that Ms. Homberger has been teaching at the University for 30 years at their institution and the Administration had no clue there were problems with her methodology? Even if there was no folder in her file full of complaints, the word-of-mouth rumor mill of college campuses would have been enough over the years to have alerted the administration there were some concerns about this professor. Was she not questioned and advised prior to the day they yanked her out of her class? I can’t believe a tenured professor of 30 years would have been pulled out of her class without the due process of dismissing a tenured professor. She had to have been warned, advised and given a chance to change her ways. Otherwise, the administration would know they would be making themselves ripe for law suits against this kind of action. And an objective review of each of the student’s academic activities would have to have been made before the Administration would have raised the students’ grades. To have done otherwise would indeed be a capricious act with a complete lack of academic integrity. Regardless of how this problem arose, a grade is a measure of that student’s understanding of the given subject material. What does it say about an institution that would be willing to give an arbitrary grade totally unrelated to the student’s actual knowledge of the subject matter? It would certainly have nothing educationally sound to say about that institution. I have to believe this article is intended to be sensational and does not portray the whole story. Otherwise, plain and simple, Louisiana State University should lose its license to be an accredited school of learning.

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