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Frequently Asked Questions, FAQs
1. Do I have to take the final?
No! But lets look at the impact to your class grade. To be able to get the minium passing grade (70%) you would have had an average no lower than 87.5% on all tests and quizzes. A possible reduction of two letter grades. This is a no-brainer.
2. Why do I have to learn higher forms of math? It doesn’t help me balance my check book.
True! But the logic and critical thinking might make the balance BIGGER.
3. Are you going to collect the homework?
No! The purpose of homework is to practice and master the course material. You would not expect to master tennis solely by watching someone else play without practice . I do not need to see your practice work. It will be obvious from your performance on exams and quizzes whether or not you practice. If you have some difficulty with your practice, I will be happy to look at the problem and help you with it.
4. I was not in class. Did you do anything important?
Yes! Let us examine this question from my perspective. There is a limited amount of class time, and I try to use this time as effectively as possible. If I don't consider something important, I do not spend class time on it. Even if I am wrong about its
relative importance, I consider all class material to be important. Absence from class as well as coming late and leaving early are detrimental to your success in the course.
5. Is this going to be on the exam?
Let us understand the basic rules of the game. It is my job to coerce you into studying all the material I think is important. If I don't consider a topic important, then I don't waste our limited time on it. Therefore anything I spend time on I consider important. It is also my task to determine whether you have learned the material. I do this by giving exams and quizzes in which I ask a representative set of questions. If you have learned all the important material, you should be able to answer the representative questions. If I tell you in advance which questions are on the exam, it spoils the surprise, tempts you to study only the material on the exam effectively decreases the content of the course. This amounts to robbing you of the full content of the course for which you paid. I would never do this. To see that you get your and the taxpayers' money's worth, I will not disclose the detailed contents of any exam. To do so would cheat you of the full measure of your tuition.
6. Do I have to take notes?
Consider the possibilities:
a. You have a photographic memory and have total recall of anything you see; then, there is no need to take notes.
b. What I do in class is done to dazzle and impress you and is not designed in any way to contribute to your understanding of the material; then, sit back, relax, be dazzled and impressed, but don't bother to take notes.
c. The premises of 'a' and 'b' are false; then, take careful, detailed notes that allow you to reconstruct and study what you have been shown in class.
7. Can we have an open book exam?
Let us try to understand your request for an open book test. You would like me to ask questions, the answers to which you can copy from the book and submit as your demonstration of learning the material. You effectively want me to evaluate the author's knowledge of the subject and give you his or her credit. By such reasoning, any Copy machine should receive an A for the course. Further, this again robs you of the full measure of the course for which you and the taxpayers have paid.
8. Can I do a project for extra credit?
Let us understand the situation which frequently prompts this question. Your grades are something less than you would like. This reflects that you are having difficulty with the work already assigned, or haven't done it sufficiently to perform well on exams and quizzes. You are now asking for still more work to do to get "extra credit" when you haven't gotten the basic credit already provided. Further implied in the question is that you want me to give you some perfunctory task so that you can get credit that others do not get and thereby better your class standing to the detriment of others. This would be unfair to the others. I cannot in good conscience make a special arrangement with you to the exclusion of others. I try to incorporate as many credit bearing exercises as possible to give every student ample opportunity of demonstrating to me that the course goals have been met, and that all the material of this course has been learned. To do otherwise would be unfair to other students.
9. Do you flunk anyone?
No! I do not take credit for the good grades you earn through your hard work and study. Neither do I take responsibility for your failure to do so. Where grades are concerned, I am the bookkeeper in the course, monitoring your progress or lack thereof. As an adult college student, you have the freedom to make the adult decision to study or not to study and to live with the consequences of your adult decision.
10. In class, is it rude to be generally inattentive (come late, leave early, leave my cell phone on, go out for a walk, talk, pass notes, sleep, do English homework)?
Yes! The this would be unacceptable behavior for a college student. Beside being rude, you may miss something important or you may cause another student to miss something important. It is not a good use of valuable class time.
11. If a significant percentage of the class fails or withdraws, will this not concern you?
Yes! As an instructor who puts considerable effort into producing class materials, strategies and exercises for students, and trying to help students be successful, it is most frustrating when a larger percentage of students do not put forth the effort to become successful.
As a parent, taxpayer, and citizen of this country, I am bothered when a greater percentage of students do not take advantage of the opportunities provided in large part by taxpayers. When students miss class, do not use class time effectively or do not study outside of class, I am concerned for the missed opportunities and the wasted time and resources.
This course has clearly defined goals. I cannot in good conscience lower those standards to accommodate those who do not meet those goals. Students may have been passed along in high school regardless of their effort, but in this college course, students succeed only on their merit and achievement, not on the percentage of those who do not achieve. I cannot pass the unprepared and perpetuate this lack of performance.
Those who are successful in this course go on and are successful in the next course. Student success in the next course is the ultimate evaluation of this course.
12. Since I'm repeating this course, I already know this material and don't really have to attend all lectures, do all the homework, etc.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Albert Einstein.
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